Stories of a Nomad
by TheFalsePoet
Summary: Stories of the Avatar's daughter, fighting... the Northern Water Tribe? Katara and Zuko are once again forced to play dominant roles in a dangerous war. Eventual Zutara.
1. Prologue

**I do NOT own Avatar. I'm not sure why I would post here if I did! I'd be busy being rich.**

**First chapter is just a bit of a prologue. No telling how long it will be until I have time to start writing the real story (or finish my other one or that matter). Not connected to The Long Wait at all, btw.**

--

A familiar, white, furry beast trudges through the snow covered tundra of the South Pole. On his head rides his only passenger, a small flying lemur. No, it is no longer Momo, but the offspring of Appa's old friend was still treated with warmth and caring just as her father was. In front of Appa moved a tall figure in heavy ankle length orange wool robes. No, not Aang. She had very short hair, except for long bangs combed neatly over her right eye. Her name is Jung. Together with her two fuzzy companions, they represent every living creature that survived the last attack on the Southern Air Temple three years ago.

--

Her father, the previous avatar, was struck down in front of her. After spending his life trying to build a stable and peaceful world, the sky blue arrow tattoo on his head became a target once again. You see not everybody saw peace in the same terms as the avatar. Aang refused to impose trade sanctions on the Fire Nation after the Great War, nor did he divide up the former Fire Lord's lands. Aang stood by his decisions, as did his friends, and most of the world, but Hahn was never a friend of theirs.

After the death of Chief Arnook of the Northern Water Tribes the North Pole's throne was handed down to the man that would've been prince, and only then, when complete power of his nation's military resided in his decision did Hahn make it known how he truly felt about the peace treaties signed by Fire Lord Iroh, the Water and Earth nations, and moderated by a young airhead. The forces came at night, during the full moon. Later, Katara would claim she could hear the moon spirit, Yue, crying. Sokka said the same thing, only more. He heard her mourn the fact that she couldn't stop it from happening.

When the forces arrived, the inhabitants were sleeping. The first wave was made up of warriors, trying to depend on silence and stealth to rid the world of its best bender without a fight. After he was gone the next avatar would be born a water bender. Maybe even into the Northern Water Tribe. They'd be able to claim the land that was rightfully their's in the fire nation.

The soldiers, however, got a little too close to the nest of a pair of lemurs, who in turn woke everybody in the temple. Momo and his mate paid for their crime with their lives. The first casualties of the new war. What followed was a confusing mess. Aang forced his earthbender wife out of bed, yelling that something wasn't right. Jung was already up and running to find her parents; a light sleeper, like her father. Her fresh blue tattoos were barely starting to scab at the bloody spots, and her hair wasn't showing signs of growth yet after just being shaved that morning. The three of them charged outside to face their attackers. The water benders and sharpened boomerangs kept coming from all directions just as fast as they fell. After the first five minutes, all three were still standing and got a chance to breath.

"13, Twinkles. What you up to?"

"Was I supposed to keep count?" Aang, always the oblivious one, called over to his wife.

"Of course you were. Haven't I taught you anything? Life is a never ending competition. Figure you'd learn that by now." She stretched, allowing her back to pop.

"Hmm, guess I wasn't paying attention for that lesson, sifu."

"16" a small voice said behind them, the only one not panting. Aang turned around, for the first time noticing that his daughter had come out to fight. Toph, of course, sensed her heading outside before the fighting even started. "You two are getting old"

"Are you sure she's my daughter?" Aang jokingly asked.

"Only because Suki would kill me if I said otherwise."

Suddenly Aang didn't find their banter quite as funny. "Low blow, cutie. It's on now." The avatar scanned the cliff side as the rest of the military forces arrived at the top, accompanied by the armored units that had stayed below in hopes of a quiet, stealth victory. "13 and 16, right? I've got some catching up to do."

With that the noise and screams of battle resumed. That was the last Jung got to hear of her parents' normal joking. The fighting was vicious. Aang had started counting, making sure to announce his score proudly ever couple minutes, and after a quick flash of glowing arrows for maybe a minute of unmatched power, he had doubled those of his two girls.

Toph tried hard to keep up with her husband, but the avatar state made that hopeless. She could however still take pride in surpassing the numbers her daughter was shouting out. "Quit slacking, dear! You want to make your parents proud, don't you?!"

Jung, 12 years old, the second youngest air-bender to ever earn her tattoos (so she was told, taking a month longer than her father), fought furiously against the invaders. Being trained by the avatar and having the most powerful earthbender in the world as your mother helped more in battle than she ever would have guessed. The frenzied action almost felt natural to her; as though this is the life she was born to lead.

After hours of furious combat a sudden unexpected scream came from the 29 year old avatar. Jung, in her fright, looked hectically for her father, she came first to her mother's side. Toph, sensing what her fearful daughter was looking for pointed to where she knew her husband was. He could barely stand, but he still fought against the company of waterbenders gathered around him. "Get him out of here, Fancy Feet." Toph yelled loudly, but showed no emotion in her voice. "He needs help. Get him to Katara."

"But…"

"Just GO!!"

Before Jung could run to her father's side she saw the tears start pouring out of her mother's eyes. It was the first time she'd ever witnessed her mother crying.

As Jung rushed towards Aang she used all the strength she could muster to conjure a tornado that ripped fifteen blue-clad men off the ground, throwing them off the high cliffs. She reached out just in time to catch her falling father, and carried him and his staff quickly to where Appa and Leitha, the small, young lemur, thrashed about, fighting their own small group of soldiers. Pushing the air up beneath her she leapt into the air to land on Appa. She didn't notice the water whip heading straight for her face until it was too late. She caught the razor sharp water squarely on her right eye. Blood was already pouring down her face as she screamed out "YIP-YIP" and took shelter along the edge of the saddle while Appa rose into the air and started flying south. Jung lifted her head up, and with her right eye closed, took one last look down towards the battle below where she saw her mother's beautiful, frail form fall to its knees, and stare up at Appa, smiling. Toph lifted her hands in surrender and was immediately surrounded by the soldiers who hastily cuffed her ankles and wrists in ice.

"We have to find Katara, Appa." Jung squeaked out, then cuddled up next to Leitha, and her father's bloody, unconscious form and fell asleep.

--

Jung didn't awake until she heard the screams of Katara, peering into the saddle. She still couldn't open her right eye, and was in a shocked stupor between wake and sleep. She felt arms pick her up and carry her to a small ice structure she knew to be part of the Southern Water Tribe capital. All she could think of was where her father was, and if he was even still alive. Then Katara started healing her eye, and Jung realized how much pain her face was in. She feinted.

--

Three years now as a nomad brought Jung little happiness. Hahn was still in power, fighting the Fire Nation. Her mother's whereabouts were still unknown. She had spent the last three years hiding from the Northern Water Tribe and trying to recruit soldiers for the war effort. It was difficult to do. She was asking them to protect a nation that held control of the better half of the world for a hundred years. Today, though, she is heading back to the capital city at the South Pole. First though, she needs dinner and sleep. Finding a cave large enough for herself and her animal companions, she heads in and sets up a feeble camp in the shelter it offered. She feasted on a few scarce nuts and some dried seal jerky (thanking her mother for not allowing Aang to force her into vegetarianism). Laying out her sleeping bag, Jung climbs in without bothering to get undressed. She brushes her long bangs out of her eye, revealing a scarred, useless, milky-gray orb and begins to cry herself to sleep.


	2. Important Business

**Don't own Avatar. Don't claim to.**

**A bit less action, but some fluff, some humor and a whole lot of wonderful character development. READ IT! 3**

--

The sun was just rising over the South Pole as Appa flew in over the outer wall. Leitha chattered gleefully as she moved back and forth from Appa's saddle to Jung's shoulder. Even Jung was beaming brightly as she peered down upon the greatly expanded city. She had not been by to see her old friends there in the whole three years of the war. As they drew near the large palace in the center of the city, Jung leaned down towards Appa's ear.

"Alright, big guy, you know where the stables are. I'll be by there to see you after I talk to a few people." She hopped back into the saddle and grabbed her father's glider. "Let's go Lei-lei!"

She landed gently on the tough packed snow stairs leading to the doors of Chief Hakoda's residence. Pushing on the doors didn't seem to do anything, however. _When did they get locks installed? _Jung thought to herself. However, before she could reach up and knock the doors melted away, replaced by two groggy, unhappy waterbenders.

"Hi! Anybody awake yet!?"

One of the two figures shrugged and reached to rub the sleep out of his eye before realizing who was looking at. He quickly shot his hand down to his side in hopes that he didn't draw attention to her… predicament. "I'll go get Katara up for you."

Jung's stomach grumbled at her loudly. "Wait, wait. No, it's fine. Can you just tell her I'm in town when she wakes up? I'm going to try and find some food."

The second figure mumbled something about her request being satisfied, and she turned to fly away.

"Ohh, wait! Umm, it's been a while. Which way is it to that Fire Nation restaurant downtown? The Spice of Life, I think it was called?"

The second figure just pointed a finger into the distance. A quick, cheerful "thank you" followed, before a gust of wind blew the waterbenders' hair back, and the door was set back into place.

--

It didn't take long to recognize the building Jung was looking for. A brick building surrounded by nothing but ice tends to stick out like a sky bison in a koi pond. Apparently it was Sokka's idea. Suki claimed it was so he couldn't get lost looking for it, which Sokka never did deny.

Landing before the ice frosted doors of the restaurant, Jung pushed, being denied by an unexpectedly locked door for the second time in fifteen minutes. A slow sigh fell from her lips. "Can you believe this, Leitha? A Fire Nation business that doesn't open at sunrise." Leitha chattered away on her shoulder, which her owner and friend seemed to decipher. "Yeah, this is definitely coming out of the tip."

The gray-eyed teen turned around and leaned against the nearest window, and questioned her companion about how they should go about killing time until they could eat. Within a couple minutes, however, before either could come up with a feasible answer, a rattle at the door signaled that the restaurant was open. Jung jumped up and walked inside. She was seated by a nearly opaque window and handed a menu. About ten minutes in to eating her food she began to think too much about all that's happened since she last left this city. Her smile slowly faded as the plate in front of her slowly emptied. She needed to talk to Katara. She was like a second mother to her. If anybody knew what to do about the grief that weighed on her heart, she would.

The bell on the front door rang and the airbender's head jerked up in expectation. A tall, dark skinned woman walked in and looked around at the seats. Jung immediately perked back up at the sight of her old friend.

"Katara! Turn around!"

Katara turned to see a wildly waving hand and a huge smile plastered to the round, porcelain face that she recognized as Jung's. The teen speedily ran to meet the Water Tribe Princess in a hug. Both of them were shocked by the discovery that the airbender now stood half a head taller than the master waterbender.

"Come, sit down, we have a lot of catching up to do, I'm sure! I would offer you breakfast, but I can barely afford my own meal here." Jung took a break in her fast speech to giggle a little at herself. "Kinda tough to earn money wandering around the world, you know."

"No, please. I'll pay for us both. It's so good to see you, you have no idea." Katara's voice betrayed a little sorrow, despite the words that came out of her mouth. "If it weren't immensely ironic to do so, to you of all people, I'd complain about how lonely it's been here." A small smile graced her full lips.

"Tell me about it. I think it's driving me a little mad. I mean, I'm holding conversations with Appa and Leitha like they were real people. Can you believe that?"

The waterbender laughed at the memory of Aang doing the same after multiple sleepless nights years ago. "Yeah, actually, I can." She paused, not wanting to change the topic to something so serious so soon. She didn't really know if she should wait, either, though. "So, any prog –"

"Wait. After breakfast please? We can talk about all that important stuff back up at the palace later."

"Hmm, yeah, that sounds good. So, what is that?" Katara pointed to the remnants of what must've been a delicious meal on her companion's plate. "Don't think I've ever tried it."

--

"So, I have to ask. What's with the hair?" They walked up the last few stairs towards the palace, and Katara deftly melted the front door to allow their entrance.

"You don't like it?"

"No, you look beautiful. It's just… very avante gaurde. And judging by the paintings and statues at the temples, it's not exactly the standard female airbender style."

"Ehh, those styles are _so_ last century." Jung reached up and brushed a stray bang back across her nose and into its rightful place. "Plus, not many people have any idea what female airbender hair is supposed to look like. It's not hard to pass it off as the norm."

"I guess you're right."

The teenager grew curious as she became aware of where her companion was leading her. "So, any reason we're going towards the war room? Who else are we expecting?"

"Well, not that I wouldn't love to continue talking about the latest in airbender fashion, but I think my father will be rather interested in any news you've brought with you."

Jung let out a disheartened "ohh" as they walked through a door-less archway and found themselves in a large room with a circular table in the center. Hakoda sat at the table prepared for the arrival of his daughter and the girl he thought of as his grandchild.

"Well, I guess we should get right into it," the airbender started as everybody sat down. Her voice had been drained of all the cheer it contained moments ago, but she knew that what she had to say was important. If she picked up anything from her parents it was that there are some things you just can't avoid. It's best to face these issues with assertiveness and a serious face. "Over the last three years I've been meeting with many of the ruling class in the Earth Kingdom. Anything from King Kuei of Ba Sing Se to the ruling councils of the western cities. I did visit Omashu, but it was more of a vacation, considering news of my fathers death already reached Bumi's ears, and the recruitment process was started long before I arrived.

"To make a long story short, however, I've done little in changing anybody's mind. The people, for the most part, have turned a def ear to my pleas. Nobody in the Earth Kingdom wants to hop right back into a war at all, let alone a war to rescue the Fire Nation. The memories of the last war are too fresh in their minds. Even King Kuei is reluctant to push for an increase in recruitment posters."

"Hmm, that's a bad sign," Katara interrupted. "I figured he'd be willing to back Iroh after what the Hahn did. Any chance you know who's pulling the Earth King's strings now?"

"He did mention a 'trusted advisor,' but I never had the opportunity to meet with him. There was something about him being busy in meetings with the Council of Five."

"That would make sense." Hakoda spoke up this time. "After what happened with Long Feng last time, he wouldn't allow such influence to come from the same place. Not to mention the generals were particularly affected by the war. All five of them had lost at least one child to the Fire Nation. That's a tough thing to forgive."

"Speaking of lost children, where are Sokka and Suki? Shouldn't Sokka be waking up about now?"

"They actually left for the Fire Nation the day after you disappeared on us." Jung was shocked that there was no sad emotion behind Katara's statement.

"You don't mean, they…"

"Ohh, no, no. They're safe. The Fire Lord asked for Sokka specifically to assist him as an advisor," Hakoda mentioned, picking up on the worry in the girl's voice.

"Zuko mentioned to Iroh that he was the one to draw up the plans for our invasion that ended the Great War. Iroh was quite impressed, and sent a messenger hawk for the over-grown oaf immediately upon hearing the news of your father's passing"

"Katara, that oaf is your brother. Please, try to be respectful. At least when he's not here to laugh at." Having said this, Hakoda proceeded to chuckle at his absent son's expense.

"Speaking of Zuko, you hear anything from him lately, Sugar Queen?"

"Why must you use your mother's nick-names when you taunt people?" Katara sighed. "Anyways, I'll tell you all about that later, it's not as important."

"Alright, well, that does bring us to my question for you. Any word at all on where my mother could be?" Jung fought hard to keep herself from crying. Her voice didn't crack at least, so she was convinced she could at least make it back to the guest room they'd have prepared for her before breaking down. She hated thinking about her mother lately.

"Nothing, I'm sorry to say." Hakoda sounded saddened by the inability to help on this front. "Hahn broke off communication with us shortly after the attack, knowing that we'd support the Fire Nation in this fight, even against our sister tribe. And, although we've seen an influx of Northern Tribesmen coming to our shores in search of asylum, none have been able to offer any insight as to where she could be kept. The whole North Pole is nothing but ice. She could be held captive anywhere without being able to see, let alone bend."

Jung couldn't hold on much longer. "Would you mind if we took a break? It's been a long day already, and I'd like to get some rest before we go any further."

"Of course. Katara, dear, would you be so kind as to show our honored guest to her room?"

Katara simply nodded, and led Jung down the hall to her room. "You want me to stay with you for a bit?"

"Please?" Jung's voice finally cracked as the first tears started to flow down her cheek.


	3. So, What Now?

**I Don't own Avatar!**

**Nor do I own a brain, for I posted this before editing. Sorry about double messages to those watching for updates.**

**To those of you not watching for updates, why not?! Really, why not? I love reviews of any sort, tell me.**

--

I HATE water! I hate it, I hate it, and the more I sit here stuck in a ice cube with nothing BUT water the more I hate it! The next time I see Katara, I'm going to really let her know how I feel about her stupid, girly, pansy element! It has no redemptive properties. It's cold, it's unstable, it's blinding!! "Crunch." It's loud. "CRUNCH!" Hmm, something's moving outside. Probably here to give me some more of that horrid vomit they pass off as food. Here I was thinking the cooks at the South Pole were bad. I didn't know how much effort they must have put into this seaweed to make it taste like _clean _toe nail clippings.

"Here, eat up. Wouldn't want you to waste away to nothing on us now would we?"

The only people I ever hear anymore are the guards. If it weren't for the fact that they like to taunt me about what they do for the others, to the others, I would think myself the only prisoner these people watch.

"You know… your husband's crying for his mommy again. Any chance you know where we can find her?"

Animals. Absolute, heartless, animals. They're holding the new Avatar in the prison as well. Please, by some cosmic miracle, tell me they guessed wrong. Please tell me that there's a little three year-old waterbender in that swamp with Hue that has nightly communes with Kyoshi, Roku and Aang. Then again, there's still a small child being kept from his parents, his friends, the entire outside world. Animals!

"We'll have to bring your little girl by some time as well. We can have a wonderful family reunion for you."

That's it. That man is going to die if I ever get out of here.

"From what my buddies were saying she's not bad looking either, if you can get past the hair, and the messed up eye. I think the guards might have some fun in here when she arrives."

"What… did you do… to my daughter?" I couldn't help it. At least I know my voice still works.

"Hah! You'll find out. I'm sure they won't kill her without you around to hear."

It strikes me, however, that Jung was trained by some rather powerful benders. It'd take a larger force to capture her than they think. Not to mention she picked up on Aang's tendency to run in order to stay alive. Something I was never all that comfortable with. Yeah, whatever they did to me, my little girl is safe, somewhere. The thought makes me smile, but I still miss the feeling of her footsteps.

--

"I just want to know if she's ok." The airbenders head rested in Katara's lap. Her eyes had dried up, but were still bloodshot. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Don't worry, sweety. We'll find her."

"But how?! We have nothing! No leads, no information, no intelligence! We're still looking in the same places we were three years ago!"

"We have no news here. You can't lose hope, though. Iroh and Zuko were close with your parents as well. I'm sure they're doing all they can to get information."

Jung lifted an eyebrow skeptically. "You know, Kat, Uncles Zuko and Iroh loved my parents and all, but they're kinda busy trying not to die right now I think."

"You give their love too little respect. You were heading there next anyways, weren't you?"

The young airbender closed her eyes and nodded, still not fully believing. "At least with dad I know what happened. He's gone, I can accept that. He's been reborn, and with any luck he's right under our nose here in the city, or maybe in a swamp in the Earth Kingdom." She paused a second to relax. "You don't happen to know any three year-olds that have surprisingly bright eyeballs, do you?"

Katara smiled down on her friend trying not to cry at thought of her old friends. "If I ever have a daughter, I hope she's as strong as you."

"So, any news from Zuko?" Jung brightened up a bit at the possibility of poking fun at the love story she knew had to pan out eventually.

"Let me see if I can work on that scar of yours a bit more, shall we?"

"First off, the scar stays! It's badass! Secondly, don't try to change the subject. Out with it."

"Did you just say the scar was badass?"

"Yes, yes I did. I know, doesn't sound girly, whatever. You're still dodging the question." The smile on Jung's face grew brighter by the moment.

"Alright, alright. I'll appease your curiosity. Zuko, well, he sent me a letter about two months ago. Mostly telling me not to worry about him so much. Then, after a more severe warning to not worry so much, he said he was taking up a role as general." A deep sigh escaped Katara's lips. "He's up near the front lines right now, I think."

"Ohh, my. And that's the last you've heard from him?"

"We never did write each other often." The waterbender's face screamed of masked agony. Hidden desire to hear from one of her closest friends.

"That's it, we're sending a letter to the Fire Lord tonight. We have to get Iroh to bring Zuko back to the palace at least for a little while."

"Why?"

"Because, you have to see him. And I have to meet with the royal family as well." Jung hopped up onto her knees on the bed next to her older friend, and kissed her gently on the cheek, and jumped up to get to the door. "Come on, let's get it sent out as soon as possible."

"Since when am I going?"

"Since now! Let's go."

"But, what if he can't make it back in time? I wouldn't want to bother them if it could turn out –"

"Then we wait for him. You have no excuses here, darling."

"What if he –"

"Wouldn't it be nice to see your brother again anyways?"

"But –"

"No." Jung glared across the room at Katara. Her arms crossed under her chest. Both feet planted firmly on the ground.

"When we find your mother, I am having a long, long conversation with her on her parenting style."

--

Toph sat blindly in her cell, lying on a cloth and feather mattress, under fur blankets, suspended on an ice bed frame. Ice door, ice ceiling, ice walls a meter thick, hard packed snow floors. Yes, she was definitely going to have to have a talk with Katara about this stupid, stupid element.


	4. The Scene of a Travesty

**Don't own 'em. Still. Except for Jung. She's mine, and I love her. Hands off.**

**So, decided to add in a bit of other perspectives to sandwich the travels of Jung and Katara here, and those took up more space than I thought they would. Next chapter we get into some more airbending, waterbending, ass-kicking action. As well as a conversation on... ethics? but that's next time, no need for that yet.**

--

Hahn looked up from the maps littering the table in front of him. "Have we received any news out of Omashu on King Bumi's position?"

"His stance on the war efforts is firm and he refuses to listen to reason, sir. Omashu continues to be the main source of outside aide to the Fire Nation. We have tried to set up blockades along major trade routes, but we are at a serious disadvantage in aerial travel. Most supplies and troops are being transported via Fire Nation war balloons."

"Yes, we have people working on that, but it's proving quite difficult. Any successor named to the throne yet?"

The general sifted through his paperwork. "Nothing official, but all those being considered seem to hold to the same views as the old loon."

Hahn pondered this, and looking down at his map seemed to measure the distance from the Fire Nation to the city of Omashu. "Yes, Aang was quite popular in that town. Hold off on the plans then, for the time being. We may just have to deal with the city as a whole after the Fire Nation. How do you feel a concurrent raid on the city would go over in the war room?"

"Not good, sir, and I don't blame those involved for such a decision. An attack on them would be an attack on the Earth Nation, and I don't think we'd be able to sustain a war on two fronts."

"Very well, as I said, then. Hold off on plans at least until we have word on an official successor. See what we can do about it then."

The Water Tribe general nodded his consent, scribbled something in the margin of the scroll in front of him and continued to the next item. "We have confirmation from the sages that it is assuredly the Avatar that we have contained in the palace."

"Good, keep him with the pair we've assigned to raise him. Make sure he receives no training in waterbending, and be sure no guards perform any waterbending in front of him. Don't want him getting any ideas." A brief heavy silence followed the order.

"There is only one more thing on the list to discuss with you this morning, sir. There is a confirmed sighting of Appa at the South Pole. She is assuredly meeting with Hakoda and his daughter there. How do you wish for us to continue with this?"

"The Southern Water Tribes are technically neutral in this fight. They have been supporting the efforts, but there is nothing to link the governing forces to this, and so we can not do anything about Jung's visit there. For the time being continue with the current path. Keep a close tail on her, only confront if she gets too close to people that may be…" He paused to consider his words, then acidly spat, "sympathetic… to her cause. Once she steps foot on Fire Nation soil, however, she becomes free game." Hahn leaned into the high back of the chair, resting his dome on the elaborately embroidered head rest. Placing the first two fingers of his right hand against his temple, he looked expectantly towards his general who seemed to be waiting for the chief to continue speaking. "If there's nothing else, you can leave now." The tone implied that this was not a light suggestion.

"Of course, sir."

--

"Ohh, I forgot to mention, we have to go by the Southern Air Temple on the way. Want to see if a few things are still there. Would you believe I'm still using my dad's old glider? He'd kill me! He never let anybody touch that thing but Teo."

Katara smiled brightly. "I haven't been there in years! I bet so much has changed."

"You'd be surprised" Jung responded from her seat on Appa's head. "Only change that's probably happened is a thick layer of dust. At least, that better be the only thing that's changed."

"Well, it's a short trip to get there on Appa. We'll find out soon enough." Katara leaned back into the sky bison's saddle. She missed flying around the world on the big furry guy. She got to touch a very different form of her element when she floated around near the clouds. Turning over, Katara looked down to the ocean below. "Umm, Jung? How long has that Water Tribe ship been down there?"

"He's still there? I noticed a ship on the way to the South Pole as well. Figured it was one of yours, watching out for me or something."

"No, we haven't had much luck tracking you for weeks." Realizing she just admitted to attempted spying, Katara stumbled over her words trying to amend her mistake. "Not.. that, we, umm… thought you needed protection or anything"

Jung just giggled. "Don't worry, it's sweet that you would try. But, that's not one of yours down there?"

"Well, I can't see the flag from here, but I don't know why it would be."

"Hmm, if he's still following when we leave the Air Temple, we'll have to try to lose him."

Katara agreed to let it be until then, and leaned back into her spot on the saddle.

--

The destruction to the grounds around the Temple from years ago had, for the most part, been fixed by the hands of time. All that remained of the destruction were a few new hills from Toph and Aang's earthbending, and even those had settled into the landscape in their own ways and grown over in bushes and sparse grass. On further inspection one might also notice a couple broken wood pillars among the airball pitch. None of this struck the attention of the two visitors, however. A tall, tattooed, airbender with rather non-traditional hair, and a slightly shorter female waterbender strolled into the main entrance in solemn, reverential silence. A tear trickled down the latter's cheek as she was half lead down the halls to where the nomad knew she needed to go.

"Wow. My room. I don't even know how bad I left it." Jung opened the door to find a lair of dust and dirt, an inch thick, spread out over piles of clothes and papers. "You know, one day, maybe I'll come back and clean this place again. Only here for a couple things today, though."

"Mind if I take a quick look around? It's been a while."

"Yeah, go ahead. I've only got one more place to stop after this, though. Won't be long." Katara moved on down the hall to explore, as Jung walked into her old room, went to the corner of her closet and grabbed a long iron staff leaning against the wall. With a quick gust of air the dust was cleaned off it, blown onto the floor to join the accumulation of dust resting there. She continued through her closet and pulled out a thinner robe in preparation for the warm weather they would be flying into. She then left the room and headed towards her parents' old quarters.

After scanning through the dust and grime on the bedside table she spotted what she was looking for. Picking up a shiny metal head band, and once against dusting it off with airbending, she sat on the bed for a couple seconds in reverie. It was the headband that Toph always wore when visiting their friends in the Fire Nation capital. Jung wiped the tears out of her left eye, placed the adornment into her own short hair, and pinned back the bangs covering her blind right eye. The scar, stretching from her cheekbone to the inside corner of her eyebrow, still looked fresh and pink against the bright pallor of her face. "Hope mom won't be mad about me borrowing her clothes" she said quietly to herself, then stood up to go find her friend.

--

Katara stood in front of the intricate doors to the sanctuary. Last time she was inside, this room was the only place left untouched by a hundred years of war. Now, she thought it might hold one of the only changes to the Temple. She heard quick movement coming up behind her and turned in time to see Jung running up behind her carrying a new staff and a set of robes over one arm. Her bangs had been moved out of her eye, and the waterbender smiled upon recognizing the hair ornament placed on the lovely girl's head.

"Hmm, what's in there anyways?" Jung asked as she approached.

"You, don't know?"

"Nope. The old man never let me in. Said I had to be sixteen. My mom always said it wasn't anything interesting anyways. Something about a room full of cosmic Avatar mumbo-jumbo"

"Would you mind opening the door? I'd like to take a look inside if it's alright."

"Sure. Hold these." The young airbender held out her arms and Katara grabbed the staff and robes Jung had been holding. The tattooed girl then placed her fists together while taking a deep breath, then, with the grace of a pumalion, she performed a quick airborne pirouette and flung her arms forward, forcing two jets of air into the bells of the door lock. The door split down the middle and the two girls walked inside.

Katara handed the staff and robe back to her friend, and made her way to the center of the room. There, in untarnished marble, stood the form of a tall, tattooed airbender, smiling broadly, and holding a long staff behind his back. Both benders looked upon the statue in shock. The waterbender, who was half expecting the miraculous presence of the image before her, smiled upon seeing her friend one more time. The teenager, however, had not expected this one bit. She stood there, with her jaw drooping half way to the floor. "Daddy" she whispered. And that was all.

She stayed there before the sculpture for hours, on her knees, wishing she could actually communicate with the man. Eventually, the two traveling companions decided they would sleep there for the night, if for no other reason than the comfortable beds that were laid out for them. That night, Jung dreamed of a beautiful sunset, sitting silently between her parents. In her dream she had the use of both eyes, and her hair was much longer, covering her back completely. She slept more easily that night than she had in three years.

--

That same night, in a palace in the frozen north, a small child had an elaborate dream. This isn't the first time he had seen a similar image, but it was always a pleasant scene. The child stood before a large Pai Sho table. At either side of the table sat two men, both very familiar. The man on the left, about 30, tall, bald, with blue tattoos adorning his arms, legs and head, was the only one to speak throughout the dream. The man on the right, who was much older, with white hair tied up into a top knot, hardly acknowledged the child's presence. After the bald monk made his next move, which is never seen in the dream, as the child observing them was too short to see the top of the table, the thin man looked down, and smiled warmly to his friend.

"Glad to see you again."

"Umm, hi."

"You seem sad. What's got you so down?"

"I don't like my home. They're trying to hide something from me. I'm thinking of running away."

"There's a blind woman we know that would definitely empathize with you on that."

The boy was unclear if "we" referred to his Pai Sho opponent or himself, but he considered all the people he knew, and determined that it had to be the older man in Fire Nation robes he was speaking of. The kind tattooed man turned toward the game table again and contemplated his next move for some time before making it. He then continued his conversation. "I am afraid that if you tried to escape at this time, you would not make it far. However, there's plenty to learn simply by watching from the shores near your home. It may do you more good than you know."

"So, I should run then? Even if they bring me back the same night?"

"A moment's freedom is still freedom. Ohh, by the way, send my daughter my love, would you?"

The boy was confused, but he was always confused at this point in the dream. The vision of the two men and the Pai Sho table started to fade away. He would not remember this dream when he woke up. He never remembered this dream, for it would interfere with the natural order of things. But he always slept soundly those nights, and those close enough to see it, were always touched by the warmth of his smile while he talked to Aang, with Roku sitting across from him.

--

**Aww... poor little guy. At least we now know he'll get to meet Jung! :oD**

**And.. why am I so silly and childish in these author notes? must change that. /serious face**


	5. Confrontations of Two Sorts

**So, a taste of the action I promised you all. Finally. I don't really write action packed fight scenes very often, I'm afraid, so if you see anything in there I can improve on please let me know.**

**Also, managed to work in so ethical banter. Keep an eye out for ideas from the writings of Sun Tsu, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and David Hume. Take notes, there will be a test at the end.**

**Lastly, a bit long. Decided not to split it up so the beginning scene isn't just left hanging there. Hope you all don't mind.**

**Ohh yeah, I don't own Avatar.**

--

"So, when did they say they'd be here?" Zuko sipped from the cup of tea as the morning sun finally finished breaching the horizon to peer in through the eastern windows. He was not afraid to admit his anxiety at seeing Katara for the first time in years.

Fire Lord Iroh, on the other hand, was preparing himself for fireworks. He did not, as yet, know how they would start, but no meeting between his nephew and the daughter of Chief Hakoda of the Southern Water Tribe ended civilly. "They said to expect them here yesterday, actually, but you know how Jung gets sidetracked."

"In other words, we'll be lucky if they're here by the end of the week." They laughed and continued to drink their tea.

A sudden crash alerted them towards the door in time to see an unexpectedly very awake Sokka crash through the entrance, pausing to pick up a helmet and apologize to a guard that he had run over.

"What are you doing here so early?" Zuko asked sounding a bit shocked.

"Well, awake because of all this time in the Fire Nation. You guys make way too much noise in the morning to sleep through, and Suki refuses to let me use the earplugs I made for her." Approaching the table Sokka dropped a scroll onto the table. "I'm here, however, because I have some great news from the prison camp on Ember Island. Who would think that a little paradise like that would make somebody spill so much secret information."

Zuko chuckled a bit before responding. "Yeah, who knew?"

--

"They're still down there, aren't they?" Jung sighed. It was starting to become obvious that she'd need to head down to the ship to find out what was going on.

"Yeah, we need to do something… soon." Katara said, leaning over Appa's side and peering down at the water tribe ship on their tail.

The airbender hopped gracefully back into the saddle to retrieve her staff from its place next to her father's. "I'll be right back."

She stood erect on the edge of the saddle next to the older woman for a second and jumped off into a swan dive. Leitha clung to Katara's shoulder in fear watching her friend descend a thousand feet in free fall. When the airbender got to a spot a mere forty feet off the surface of the water she flicked her glider open and drifted directly over the main deck of the ship where a group of five water benders stood in a circle waiting for her to land. Deciding not to make them wait too long, Jung snapped the sails of her glider back into the solid iron staff, and landed in a three point defensive stance. She slowly rose to her feet, and shifted into a stance eerily similar to those held by the benders encircling her. "I don't want to hurt you guys," she spoke clearly but gently. "I'm just here to ask a few questions of whoever is in charge."

One of the waterbenders failed to hold in a chuckle at the threat. The others seemed to take the tall lithe figure a bit more seriously. "Ask away" a gruff tenor voice resonated from the stairs, preceding the appearance of a short, thick, dark-skinned man climbing onto the deck.

"So, you the same guys that have been following me since I left the Earth Kingdom?" In her peripheral vision, Jung took in all she could of her surroundings. No motor to speak of. The ship was propelled entirely by sails.

"Yes, we are." The man seemed relaxed, as though confident that the teenager in front of him meant no harm.

"Who would tell you to do such a thing to an innocent little teenager?"

"I think you already know the answer to that. After all, not many blue uniformed men in this world chasing after you, are there?"

Jung took this as all the confirmation she needed. "You have any friends keeping out of sight? I'm sure it gets lonely, need some other great and mighty captain to talk to out here, don't you?" At this point Leitha had finally caught up, and she perched herself on the airbender's right shoulder.

The ship's captain didn't seem to be surprised by the new little visitor to his vessel. "Aww, but that would be giving up a bit too much. We might as well tell you the whole plan if we were to tell you that."

"I guess I should probably ask you to stop. You wouldn't want to endanger your crew." Her eyes focused a little higher for a moment to take in the sight of the large wooden wheel placed on a slightly elevated platform.

"I assure you, my crew is in no danger here, and, you shouldn't make threats like that. Rather unbecoming of a lady of your heritage, isn't it? Heiress to both the air temples and the Bei Fong estate and all."

"I wouldn't exactly use the word 'lady' in reference to my heritage," planning complete, she knew what needed to be done, "but to be honest, I'm getting tired of this conversation." Her smile stretched across her face as she swung her staff forward and blasted the ships captain back down the stairs he had only recently ascended. Leitha took this as her cue to attach herself to the face of the closest waterbender she could find.

Battle cries could be heard as Jung leapt into a front flip, landing behind the ship's wheel right back into a waterbender's defensive stance (once again wondering how she'd get anywhere if not for being trained by an Avatar). Spinning to face the circle of blue-clad benders on the deck below she found a tentacle of water heading straight for her, the other end of which attached to the arm of one of the men. Swinging the staff around, the water was knocked harmlessly aside. Jung continued through the swinging motion with her legs, deftly lifting off the ground and kicking the top of the wooden wheel hard assisted by a slight amount of bending, setting the sails above them into motion. As she finished the motion, pulling her torso back around, another blast of air came out in a semi-circle in front of her.

The bender to her far left was the only one still standing. The only other one that remained on deck was busy fighting a flying lemur, that would not stop badgering the poor man. Jung, meanwhile, switched into a narrow, quick moving airbending stance, and allowed her adversary to approach. As he got closer he pulled a whip out of the sea beneath them and aimed straight for the light-footed nomad, who easily spun to her right to avoid the attack. As the water rose from the deck to form a wave, Jung leapt over the waterbenders head, landing and pressing her back against his. After struggling in vain to face the tattooed girl, the soldier began lifting another wave over the side of the ship. Before he could bring it forward to freeze the nuisance on his back, however, Jung flung herself into the air once more, back-flipping over the bender and thrusting him over the side of the ship with a strong gust of wind.

She hurried back to the wheel, which had come to rest, with the sails all pushed hard to the right. Positioning her metal staff as a lever through one of the openings the wheel gave her, she went down into a horse stance and lunged at the long, protruding end. The torque tore the wheel from its position just as her large furry friend was landing on the deck below her. Thinking the job done, the teen flung the wheel off her staff into the water and waved at Katara.

Katara, however, was already jumping off the bison screaming "Look out!"

Turning to her right, Jung noticed the captain had recovered from his trip down the stairs, and had managed to sneak up on her blind side. Jung attempted to jump out of the way of the attack heading her way, but barely managed to leave the ground before a long tentacle of water tripped her up, sending her tumbling over herself out of control towards the deck below. Hitting the ground hard on her head and left shoulder, Jung lost consciousness. Her broad toothy smile finally left her face.

Katara made quick work of the captain before grabbing Jung and her staff and climbing back onto Appa. After the obligatory "yip, yip!" the group was back into the air and on course for the fire nation. Leitha caught up quickly once her airborne companions were a safe distance away. The ship below them spun hopelessly in circles, like an air bison chasing its own tail.

--

"Whoa! What happened to your face?!" Sokka was the first one out to greet the palace's guests as they climbed down from Appa. Katara gave her brother a good slap on the back of his head. "What? I wasn't even talking to you, sis." Leitha perched herself softly onto her master's right shoulder, her normal resting spot.

"That's no way to greet a woman, and you know it." Katara was trying hard to defend her young friend's ego, but Jung really didn't need it. She merely giggled at the scenario playing out before her, and whispered something incoherent into her lemur's ear.

"Well, I was curious. If you haven't noticed, something's obviously happened to her face. You know, the large bruise. I swear I think it might be pulsating." Sokka leaned in closer as though checking to see if the skin around the airbender's good eye was moving. This garnered the warrior another swat from his sister, and another hearty laugh from the smiling Jung.

"Ahh, our guests are here! It's great to see the two of you again: Master Jung, Master Katara." Iroh walked leisurely out towards the newly arrived benders; his nephew in stride next to him. The Fire Lord was dressed, as usual, in dark, regal, flowing robes. Zuko, however, wore his armor as proudly as ever.

"We weren't quite expecting you two so soon," Zuko commented.

The airbender looked quizzically at the handsome general. "Didn't the message say we would be here yesterday?"

A flicker of a smirk appeared on his face. "My point exactly. It said that _you_ would be here yesterday. That's usually a good four day's notice." The group broke out into a small chuckle, except for Jung, who stood there shocked for a moment, only to join in the laughter upon realizing how true the words were.

"Well, I'm sorry, but sometimes you just see the Unagi, and it looks way too fun to pass up, am I right?" The laughter at the words told the girl she was wrong. Apparently not everybody found it fun to ride sea monsters, or any other fun, mountable animals most likely.

"Well, let us avoid any more side-tracks and head inside, shall we? We have much to discuss with the two of you, and it appears that you have a bit to inform us about as well." Iroh made it clear by his expression that he was talking about Jung's bruise.

The group started moving into the palace while Sokka held Katara back to say, "Why does he get to mention it without getting physically assaulted?"

"For one, he's much more subtle than you. Plus, I can't slap him, he's not my annoying big brother." Katara smiled big and went to catch up with the rest of the group.

Suki was waiting in the throne room for the group to arrive. As they walked in she looked shocked at the state the world's last airbender was in, and ran up to express her sympathies. "It's alright," Jung assured her, "just a little surface damage. I'm fine. We'll explain later. You guys have some news for us first, though, right?" The girl looked around at her friends questioningly.

"That we do, and wonderful news at that. Zuko, it is your accomplishment more than anything, care to let them in on the discovery?"

"I'd be honored." They all sat around the large table in the center of the room, a map of the world sprawled out on its surface. Iroh sat at the head of the table, rather than on the dais which had, for the most part, gone out of use under the current ruler's regime. Zuko sat to his right, Katara, to his left. Once everybody was settled, the prince continued. "We have word from our prison on Ember Island that one of the war criminals has given up some vital information. Namely, we may have discovered the location of Toph's prison cell."

This was just the news that the air nomad had been waiting to hear for three long years. She leapt up from her seat with joy, frightening her poor friend sitting on her shoulder, and did a quick lap around the room on an air-scooter. Having finished her display, she sat back down into her chair, resuming her composed posture, but with a much happier look on her face. Leitha, however, decided it wiser to commune with Suki for a little while instead.

Katara, meanwhile, held the hint of a scowl on her lips as she mulled something over in her mind. She kept quite for the moment, though.

Sokka, however, spoke up. "They're holding her inside the walls of the capital city. From the description we've been given, the prison is situated directly adjacent to the palace. We've been able to devise a plan to get you beyond the walls, but from there –"

"Wait, wait…" Katara couldn't stay quiet any longer. "When you say he's, 'given up some vital information,' how exactly do you mean it?"

Zuko knew this wasn't going to be pretty immediately. "This is important information, Katara. How it was retrieved is not the important part."

"Not the important part? Just tell me, how did you get him to talk?"

The room went quiet for a while. The prince took a calming breath. "Katara, this is war. We did what we had to."

"And _what_, pray tell, did you _have to _do?!" The waterbender made no attempt at calming herself. The Northern Water Tribe, though the enemy in this situation, was still close to being kin.

"What do you want me to say? We never hurt him, if that's what you're thinking."

"I want you to tell me the truth. How did you get this information out of him?"

"Alright, you want the truth? Here you go. For the last week, we've been keeping the prison awake, allowing him only two hours of sleep a night. We've used threats, we have had him stripped down to his underwear, and we have kept him tied up whenever he was given water and during the full moon. We've kept him alive, and we haven't put a single mark on him. Now can we get back –"

"No, we can't get back to the plan. This is insane! How can you treat another human being like that?! Do you feel no compassion for this man? How can you not feel sick?!"

"Like I said, this is a war. That information may just save our friend's life, not to mention the world could really use its best earthbender right about now to help protect the balance that we have all been fighting to achieve."

"That doesn't make it right, and you know it. You can't just treat a man as though he is nothing more than a means to an end! I don't care what that end is."

The two benders were now standing, directly across from each other. At any moment the argument may become a full on bending fight. Jung spoke up loud enough for everybody to hear. "I'm getting a bit hungry. Can we take a break to get some dinner?"

The group agreed, especially Sokka, aside from the two furious benders that were apparently oblivious to having an audience. The four others stood up and started moving towards the door. On the way, Jung whispered to Fire Lord Iroh, "Why can't they just calm down and fall in love already? I can't wait much longer."

"Ahh, you underestimate the differences between them. They are natural opposites."

"Yeah, but so were Aang and Toph. They got along fine."

"Tell me," the sage-like man in fiery red robes spoke to the airbender. "When your parents got into a fight, if your father was wrong, how would the fight end?"

"He would break down and admit that he was wrong, and my mom would forgive him."

"…and if your father was right?"

"He would break down and admit that he was wrong, and my mom would forgive him." They laughed heartily before starting out towards the dining room, along with Sokka and Suki (Leitha still latched onto Suki's shoulder, confused and shuddering from the loud noises).

--

**/end.. Alright, I lied about the test. I'm sure you're not disappointed.**


	6. Rescue Plans

**Still do NOT own Avatar.**

**Sorry for the long wait (lol). Anyways, hopefully this makes up for it a little bit. It might be a little rough. Didn't take the time to proofread much **

--

"Ok, I think we all want to know what happened your face, Jung." Sokka instinctively flinched, before realizing his sister had not returned from her argument with prince Jerkbender.

"I was being followed by some of Hahn's men. They had been tracking me since I left the Earth Kingdom about a week ago, and when they were still there this morning, leaving the Southern Air Temple, we figured we'd need to do something. So, I flew down and kicked some waterbender ass. It's what I do best." Jung smiled as she then related the events that took place on the ship, step by step. "…and WHAM!! Face plant into the deck! Then I kinda lost consciousness."

"That doesn't sound good, sweety," Suki spoke up.

"No! It was awesome! You should've seen the look on that guy's face when I did a back-flip over him! He was all" Jung twisted her face into what looked like a cross between fear, confusion and constipation. The whole time Leitha flew around the airbenders hands as though playing her part in the acting job taking place.

"That's not what I meant." Suki cut in on the dramatization again. "They saw you and Katara, flying Northwest from the Air Temple. No way they're going to be looking for more evidence as to where you are."

"And, I'm afraid," the Fire Lord's voice was deep and foreboding, "We have reason to believe that there are spies stationed in a few of the nearby cities. It would be impossible to conclude that nobody saw Appa arrive here this afternoon."

"This changes things, guys." Sokka pulled out his map, with a trail plotted that Jung assumed was the path they would be taking to infiltrate the Northern Water Tribe. "Give me a night to think about this, I'm going to have to draw up a whole new route for you guys to take. You were supposed to be flying as far as the Northern Air Temple at least, but that's far too visible now. I don't know if you'll even be able to stop by and see Teo and the gang up there."

"So, I have to leave the big guy behind?" The airbender was obviously opposed to this idea from the start.

"At least for the time being, yeah. And you certainly don't get to do any flying without a war balloon."

"Hmm, I guess if it has to be done." Jung slouched down into her chair and diligently set to work on her dinner. After a momentary, heavy silence, Katara walked into the dining room beaming. Zuko, right behind her, seemed unnerved.

"So, I guess Katara won the argument, then?" A sense of laughter echoed through Suki's words.

"I guess you could call it that." Zuko spat in defiance.

"Ohh? And what would you call it, your highness?"

Zuko turned on Katara, trying to bore holes through her skull with his eyes. "I'd call it a night of a full moon, and an instinct for self-preservation."

Everybody laughed, except Sokka, who merely nodded his agreement with the wise decision (Sokka took much longer to learn that lesson than the prince did), and Jung, who was too busy stirring her food around in its bowl with chopsticks.

Katara sat down beside her young friend, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong little arrow-head?"

"Nothing. Just, I know it's silly, but, being with Appa, makes me feel like I never lost my dad. I just wonder what he's doing, you know?"

Katara looked around the table, seeking some sort of explanation for the Appa talk. By the time it was explained to her, Jung's sorrow made sense, but Jung had managed to quietly escape the crowded table, and disappear onto the vast grounds of the palace.

--

Far away, in the frozen north, a three year old boy sat in his room alone with nothing but the few toys he was allowed. His favorite was the drum, with its handle and two beads that beat on the skins when he spun it between his palms. It reminded him of the sounds of the festival drums that leaked in from the main halls of the palace he was kept in whenever they had a party.

Today, however, all of the child's toys were left unattended in his closet. He just stared out the window at the full moon over head. He wanted out, but he didn't know how. He couldn't reach the window, and if he could, there were bars made of ice, too close together for even his slight little body to squeeze through. Plus, if he got through those, how high up was he? No way to tell. He walked around the palace before, but never was able to determine what floor he was on, or even if the palace had more than one floor, though he assumed it had to. Tonight seemed like the right night to try. The moon looked so welcoming, so caring. He thought he saw it smiling at him more than once.

Very little noise came from the small bed being shoved across the snow to a position under the window. The boy stood up on the head board, but was still a little too short to reach the bars. He jumped up, barely missing the ledge and fell back onto his mattress. "I can reach it," the child thought to himself as he stood back up and took his position. "I can reach it." This time it was a whisper. Repeating the sounds in his head like his new mantra, he bent his knees and threw himself at the window again. He felt his right hand grab hold of something solid and cold. It had to be one of the bars. He struggled to get his left hand up to join it, and, using his legs against the solid ice wall, he pulled himself up to the ledge. He looked outside, and found himself in luck. Soft powder was piled up about six feet below him. He was on the bottom floor. All he had to do was get through the bars and he could explore as much as he liked for one night. He grabbed hold of two bars in his hands and looked up at the full moon again. He didn't notice the ice in his hands change shape as he smiled up at his unknown guardian. It wasn't until his fists were balled up with nothing in them that he realized he was free. He almost fell backwards in shock – how did this happen… did I do this somehow? were other people aware that this could be done? – he caught his balance enough to redirect his motion. He dove, head first, out of the window, not knowing how he'd get back inside later. More importantly, though, he was free. He ran as fast as his feet would carry him in the first direction he was facing when he stood up, and he didn't stop until he came to an amazing sight; the very end of a canal. He had seen water, of course, but he had never seen it move like this. In and out, as though it couldn't decide where it wanted to be. Splashing past its banks like a wash basin in the shaky hands of a frightened or tired servant. Somehow, though, he didn't just see it. He could feel it.

--

Back at the Fire Palace, Jung was perched on one of the golden corner pieces over-looking the turtle-duck pond. It had been a long day, and she wanted sleep, but she knew that if she were to lie down in bed right now sleep would not come. The bruise that covered most of the left-side of her face wouldn't help, nor would the inability to lift her left arm above her head, but what really hurt was the feeling of weakness she felt. Her blind right-eye was a weakness, and it cost her. Leitha chattered quietly on her shoulder. "I mean, at least I'm still alive and free and all that, but that's really only because Katara was there. What if it had cost me my life, or even worse if it had cost the life of one of my friends?" Leitha, ever the sympathetic conversation partner, chattered a bit more and leaned in to sniff Jung's cheek. In the midst of her brooding conversation with her lemur, she lost her hold on her staff, and heard a soft, girly "ouch" emanate from below. She jumped back out of sigh, hoping to avoid company, but it wasn't long before the former head of the Kyoshi Warriors had scaled the walls, holding out the momentarily lost glider to the airbender.

"Is this about the whole Appa thing, still?" Suki said sweetly, taking a seat next to the nomad.

"Partially. It's more about the whole, I'm-half-blind-just-attack-from-my-right, thing. Mom would be pissed if I ever let it be an excuse, but… I mean, what if Katara wasn't there? What if my dad's best friend, hadn't shown up riding on my dad's other best friend, at just the right time like some watery spiritus ex machina in a crazy fictional story?" Jung sighed heavily.

"Of course your mom wouldn't accept it as an excuse. She has no eyes and can see better than anybody. Have you tried, well, seeing with airbending, like Toph does with her earthbending?"

"I've tried. Ohh, lord have I tried. The mechanics just don't work that well." The airbender rested her hand on top of her head, feeling the slight difference in texture from scalp to tattoo underneath the short spiky hair that resided there. "I mean, it works fine if the wind is coming at me from the right, but it takes a lot of concentration at all times. And even then, I can't tell shapes and sizes all that well. You know, a week into trying to train it on the roads around Gaoling I accidentally blew a fly into a spider's web because I thought somebody was earthbending at me?" The girls both chuckled before Jung continued.

"And then, if the wind isn't blowing in the right direction, the only way I can get anything from it is by constantly circulating the air to my right with my bending. That gets tiring really, really fast, let me tell you."

"Hehe, I can imagine." Suki smiled at her friend's annoyance, knowing that the girl wouldn't take it the wrong way. She may have Toph's skin and hair (in fact, aside from the tattoos and the tall slender frame she looked exactly like her mother) but she definitely did not have Toph's attitude. Well, most of the time. Suki's sweet, girlish giggle actually made Jung a little bit happier even. A smile was starting to tug at the corners of her lips. "Just so you know, Sokka finished reworking the plan. It sounds really good, too, and I'm not just saying that because of his sexy voice."

"Eww, you really are a Fan Girl, aren't you? Trust me, I've heard some sexy masculine voices in my travels. Sokka's? Not even close." Both girls laughed at the man's expense, a common pastime among the group, dating back to the last days of the Great War.

"Alright, but it looks like you're not planning on sleeping anytime soon, so you might as well come on down and learn the plan."

Jung relented, and casually stood back up. "Ok, get up and hold on tight."

"Umm, what?"

"Come on, now. Airbender, glider" Jung pointed from herself to her staff in order to illustrate her words. "Might as well make a flashy reentrance."

"Ok, but I've never flown this way before. Be gentle, please."

"You mean, Aang never brought you along on his glider? From how I hear it there wasn't a girl he met between the iceberg and his wedding that didn't get the opportunity."

"Yeah, well, I was sort of committed to Sokka for the vast majority of that time. Not to mention, Toph and I had some issues for a while over my choice in mates. If I were to do anything like that with Aang, she would've killed me. No questions asked."

"Whoa, my mom had a thing for Sokka?! Weird." The girl shook her head wildly to clear out the images it was producing. "Well, you're in for a treat. Hold on tight." Jung flicked the glider open, while Suki clung as tightly to the tall, seemingly frail girl as she was comfortable with. When they left the ground, however, the grip increased in intensity ten times over.

Within moments the two ladies crashed through a window directly into the room where everybody was gathered, tumbling along the floor in decidedly ungraceful fashion, laughing their heads off. It took a moment for everybody to figure out that they weren't under attack and relax into their seats again.

"So, idea guy! What's the new plan?" Jung shouted out after dusting off her silken orange robes and taking her seat next to Katara.

"Alright, so Appa's going to run a distraction for us. Suki and I are going to hop on him, and fly him back to the Southern Air Temple. Right after we leave, you guys are going to board a ship that will be taking you to the Earth Kingdom. If Suki and I can lose any tails that we will certainly have on us, we will be meeting up with you guys to return Appa to you, here." Sokka reached out and pointed to a small town near the western shores of the Earth Kingdom on the maps spread out in front of him. He then unrolled another map that he had previously sat on the table in front of him. "This map is your's. You, Katara and Zuko will be following the path charted out on this map in order to get you to the North Pole."

"Wait, Katara and Zuko are both coming?" Jung's smile could have made all the candles and lanterns in the Fire Nation superfluous, had it not been for the counter-acting glares from the Fire Prince and Waterbending Master.

"Please, don't get them started again. Yes, they're both going. You're going to need them." Sokka cleared his throat before continuing on with his directions. "Now, weakest defense at any entrance is going to be from the south, here."

"Sokka, we've already told you, _every_ entrance to the _North Pole _is going to be from the South."

"Excuse me, that's _why_ I'm pointing at the map, Jerkbender. Now, the entrance from the tundra here is going to lead you into the Spirit Oasis. There are cave along the way that will give you protection. Zuko, I'm sure, remembers the location of at least one of these."

Both of the water tribe siblings here made a show of glaring heatedly at the prince. Zuko, in turn, ducked his head and mumbled something that sounded like an apology.

"What, in the name of Oma, is that look all about?" Jung whispered across the table to Suki. Suki, looking just as puzzled as the airbender, simply shrugged her shoulders and yawned.

--

Footsteps in the snow echoed off the ice walls of the capitol city. Knowing it had to be guards who would not be happy to see him, the newly realized waterbending child ran towards the closest wall he could find. There were ice bars in the wall, just like on those that used to trap him inside his room at all hours of the day. Using his new found talent, the child piled snow up to the window, climbed toward it, and removed the bars to get inside. He leveled the ground outside again before jumping down inside the strange unfurnished room. Looking around he noticed a woman lying restlessly on a bed made of ice, with little cushioning between herself and the frozen construct.

"Is somebody there?" the woman asked, surprisingly calmly.

"Shh! Guards outside."

"Sorry." The woman was whispering now. "Why are you out so late?"

"I'm not sure… I think the moon wanted me to." The boy seemed genuinely confused about his own motives now. "Did you know people could make water move by asking it to?"

The woman chuckled a little to herself, quietly. "What's your name?" she whispered.

"I'm Darru." The boy slowly approached and sat on the edge of the bed next to his new friend. "What's wrong with your eyes?" he asked.

"I'm blind."

"Ohh. That must not be fun."

"Actually, most of the time, it's pretty awesome. I just have to see differently than most people." She turned her head to finally gaze blindly in the direction of the child next to her. "I'm Toph by the way."

"Ohh, nice to meet you. I should get back home, though, before they notice I'm gone."

"Ok. You need help getting back out?"

"Yeah, I think so." Toph stood up, and walked slowly over to where she knew the window to her cell was located. She then picked up the pint sized Avatar, and helped him up to the ledge. "Think I can come visit again some time?" he asked.

Toph smiled at the small child and nodded. "Whenever you want, Soggy."

--

**Yay! Another chapter **

**I'll try not to make you all wait so long for the next one. Love you all!**


	7. A New Friend

**Don't own Avatar.**

**Comparably short chapter, hope it eases your aching desire to hear the continuation of the story.**

**No Toph in this chapter, unfortunately... I love writing Toph, but couldn't fit her in to this one.** **And yeah, the new guy will be a bit more interesting in the future. Promise.**

--

"Sokka, maybe we should've brought some back up along with us."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because there is no way we can land this big flying cow without getting killed right now."

Sokka looked down over the edge of Appa's saddle to see a fleet of ten water tribe ships on their tail. "You're worried about that? Honestly, how long have you lived with me?"

"And how many times have you been injured or captured or outmatched or –"

"Alright, alright, I get your point. Can you at least trust me this one time, though? I know those ships. Appa here can out maneuver those things easily. Right buddy?"

Appa let out a not-quite-ferocious growl and shifted hard to the left. Sokka and Suki held on for their lives to each-other and the saddle they sat in. Sokka quietly wished he had thought to bring back up.

--

"Uncle, did you send out that squadron to follow Appa?" Zuko flung his bag over his shoulder, pulled his hat down, and made to leave the room he was in. He felt a little silly wearing the hat of a Fire Nation farmer, along with his less than regal outfit of boots, tight black pants and short sleeved shirt.

Iroh stepped through the door behind his nephew. The Fire Lord himself was part of the group designed to insure the rescue team made it out to sea safely. "Of course, prince Zuko. And if they need to get involved, it will be made clear that it was your idea to have them followed."

Zuko stopped walking. Turning back to his uncle, he prepared to ask a question, but the Fire Lord interrupted and answered in anticipation. "Sokka would not be angry at me for doing so, but he would most certainly be angry at you. I plan on having a very nice comfy chair and some delicious fire flakes when that fight starts."

Before Zuko could relieve the pressure building up in his nerves, most likely by screaming his head off at his last sane relative, Leitha flew around the corner and landed on Iroh's shoulder. From up ahead they felt a strong breeze before the familiar sight of Jung appeared speeding around the corner, halfway up the wall on an air-scooter. "Get back here right now, and fix this!!" Katara's voice boomed off the long corridors.

"So, you guys ready to go?" Jung came to an abrupt stop inches away from slamming into Iroh's barrel-like chest.

"Umm, yeah. What's Katara–"

As Katara walked around the corner Zuko realized he didn't have to finish his question. Her hair resembled a ratcoon nest, and the once elegant red silk dress she wore was cut at the shoulders and halfway up the skirt. "I swear, Jung, you're worse than your father. We do NOT play with Zuko's swords in the palace! Why would you even need to be told at your age?"

"Well, at least you're not bleeding…" The airbender hurried to get to the other side of the Fire Lord's large frame for cover before finishing her sentence. "Umm, anymore."

"Master Katara, please. We must hurry. Just change into something else and let's get out to the docks." Katara turned on her heels and stormed back towards her room without another word. One does not argue with the Fire Lord about such trivial affairs as attire.

Jung almost whispered to Zuko in her most sheepish tone, "Sorry for using your swords without asking, uncle."

"I hate when you call me that."

"But you can't help but forgive when I do, uncle Zuko." Jung's brilliant smile was plastered to her face as she manipulated the fire prince. Being the only child born from the original group had its benefits. It was a bit like being the only child in a powerful, wealthy family that longed for somebody to spoil rotten. No, it was exactly like that.

"Just, don't let it happen again." Zuko broke, as always.

A thought flashed through the teen girl's mind. _Hmm, maybe I can teach Katara that trick_.

The three benders, from three generations, walked down the hall to wait outside of Katara's room. When she finally emerged she had changed into a slightly less formal outfit. A red silk halter top that stopped just above her navel, and a loosely flowing black skirt that fell down to her ankles. Zuko appeared to have lost control of the muscles in his jaw. Jung, thankfully, didn't seem to notice, thus sparing the prince the comments that were bound to spring forth if she had.

"So, where's the rest of our escort to the ship?" Katara looked around at the empty corridors.

"They will be meeting up with us at the entrance to the tunnels. We will be traveling underground from the palace to the docks along the eastern coast of the island here. For obvious reasons you can not be seen in my company, nor in the company of any Fire Nation soldiers. Any of the ships there will be moving on to the Earth Kingdom from there, and you're on your own getting to the North Pole." Iroh was merely reiterating the escape plan that Sokka had drawn up the night before. From their landfall in the Earth Kingdom they had a rather strict schedule to keep. Those towns that were more lenient toward the Northern Water Tribe had to be avoided at all cost, while those that appreciated the trade routes to the Fire Nation were key destinations, some of which even containing hotels that they could rest in. Large cities were always bad. Large cities meant a lot of people with a lot of varying opinions. Large cities have large ears and loose lips.

"Do I really have to wear this silly wig once we're out of the tunnel?" Jung complained about the less than elaborate disguise which was stored at the top of her bag. It consisted entirely of a wig of long, light brown hair. It would not cover her scarred right eye, but she also had a black cloth that she was instructed to use to cover both eyes if there might be any suspicion, and claim that she was blind and with her parents in order to prevent herself from being injured.

"It really is for your own good," Katara said, looking at the hat Zuko was wearing to try and hide his scarred face. "You two are just too recognizable from those scars. Not to mention your rather unique hairstyle."

Jung was about to try her pouty face to get Katara to bend to her will when Iroh reached up and pulled on a torch that looked just like any other torch in the hall way. This one, however, caused the wall to slide away, revealing a group of twenty Fire Nation soldiers in a dark, unlit tunnel that appeared to drop steeply into the volcanic island. "I do have one surprise for you all, though." Iroh said as a handful of the soldiers lit up the tunnel. In the light Jung noticed that one of the men was wearing very common Earth Nation garb; bare feet and everything. Actually, to call him a "man" was to be generous. He couldn't be more than 16, which would mean he was barely old enough to join the war effort. He was tall with vibrant green eyes. "This is Da Shan, of the Earth Kingdom. He has proven himself both loyal and knowledgeable as my nephew will attest to as well. He shall assist you in your journey north."

"It an honor to meet you, ladies." Da Shan bowed low before Katara and Jung. "As for you sir," he bowed once more, this time to Zuko, "it is a great honor to serve you again."

"I don't really know if we need an escort here." Katara turned toward Iroh. "Are you sure about this? I mean, it's not like we've never been to the Earth Kingdom, and the larger the group the slower the movement will be."

"Don't worry, Katara." The prince interrupted before Iroh could respond. "I know this man well. He won't slow us down, and he'll most certainly come in handy."

"How? We have three master benders here already, and I don't know many people that know the Earth Kingdom better than I do from our travels."

"Katara, you know the Earth Kingdom of twenty years ago," Zuko said.

The young man stepped forward. "Master Katara, daughter of Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe." Jung knew that tone anywhere. It wasn't as though he were trying to insult Katara in any way, but it was most certainly not a heart-felt brown-nosing he was doing. "I have spent the majority of my life traveling the western shores of the Earth Kingdom with my family as a nomad. Though there are certainly ulterior motives for the assistance that I am offering you, I can assure you that the trip will prove much faster and smoother with my assistance."

The whole group, including Fire Lord Iroh, stopped to look at the young man. The gaze asked in unison, "Ulterior motives?" Before the question could be vocalized, though, he answered them. "I have had little in the way of traditional training in the art of earth bending, and though my skills are not terrible, I have heard stories of the abilities of Toph Bei Fong as though she were a legend. I would like nothing more than to free her from her imprisonment, and to possibly become her pupil."

Jung looked around at the small group, and thought about what he had said, or rather, how he said it. "You know, you can talk to us like humans rather than superior officers." She then turned to the ever stern face of the crown prince, and added, "At least, I think you can."

--

"Did you hear something?" Sokka asked, as they finished unloading Appa for the night. They had made it to the Southern Air Temple without incident. Now, however, loud clanging sounds were echoing up from the cliff sides.

"Yeah, I did. We should head down to the base to see what's going on. I don't think it would be safe to stick around up here without at least investigating." Suki pulled her fans out of the bag they were in and started climbing down the mountain face that Toph had long since fashioned into a rock staircase.

After the long trip down to the base of the mountain, the scene that stood before them had dwindled to the last remnants of a battle. The wooden crafts the Water Tribe soldiers had ridden in on were all set aflame, and the entire cove was surrounded by large metal Fire Nation battle ships. The few remaining Water Tribe soldiers were easily outnumbered by their Fire Nation equivalents, and the shore was littered with the bloody and charred carcasses of the fallen. Sokka and Suki merely watched the end of the battle in shock.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sokka stepped forward on the scene.

--

"What?! That guy?!" Aang was shocked by the figure he was watching in the mortal realm. "Seriously, Roku, they couldn't find somebody… I don't know, more caring? More free spirited? Less, what's the right word… chicken-pig headed?"

Roku chuckled at the tattooed monk. "I remember hearing something similar not too long ago."

"What do you mean?"

"You should have heard Avatar Yangchen when you first met Toph. I swear, she was insufferable for years. It wasn't for a good three years after the war that she finally entrusted her with the fate of the air nomads."

"I still don't like the guy."

"And you probably never will, but give it time. You might learn to accept it."

--

**A little less than subtle. Maybe should have held off on that whole thing at the end. **


	8. A New Story Retold

**Don't own Avatar. I'm sick of saying that. :o/**

**Fluff, a little Zutara, and some interesting plot development. I tell you nothing of what I have planned. Bwahahaha  
**

--

"Come in!" His authoritative voice booms from behind the solid ice that acts as the door to his study.

Tentatively, I melt enough of the block to enter. Two guards positioned inside freeze the door back into place once I'm over the threshold. "Sir, we have reports from our naval patrols to the south."

"And?" Chief Hahn is obviously not in a mood for suspense today. He never really is in the mood for suspense.

"Well, the fleet reports that they spotted the airbender's bison leaving the Fire Nation three days ago. We are still awaiting further reports from the ships that were assigned to engage the girl, but there is no word of a Fire Navy escort." I try to hide the omissions I'm making in this report. To be honest, I don't feel like dealing with the chief's wrath today, and I know the full story would definitely incur the full force of it. Judging by the appraising glance he's giving me, however, I don't think I'm succeeding.

"You seem tense." He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. "You have anything else to report to me?"

"Umm, no sir." Dammit! Who says "umm" in that sentence? A liar, that's who! He knows. Why do I have to be the one reporting here? They don't pay me enough for this.

"You sure about that?" His eyes narrow. He's reading me. He sees the lack of eye contact. He sees the sweat on my brow before it's even there. He sees knees shake under the three layers of fur, and he knows. Oh yes, he knows.

"Well, sir. There are some reasons for concern regarding the information."

"Like what?" Stressing each word as though his tongue were the sharpest sword on the planet, and it was being held right up to my throat. Let me tell you, I felt that blade. I felt its cold steel edge against my larynx and it sent shivers down my spine. I'm huddled under three layers of thick fur in the middle of autumn and suddenly my whole body is raised in goose bumps. The light of a lantern on the table in front of him reflects in his blue eyes and the visage of an angry Agni is staring me in the face.

"Well, sir, we only have word of this from the scout ship. As you know, we usually receive secondary word from the crew still at sea via messenger hawks since we managed to breed them." I swallow and the spit seems stuck in my throat for at least five minutes - maybe an eternity – though I know it's really only a moment. It squeaks past the edge of the imaginary blade pressed against my throat and I continue. "Since from that distance the hawks will usually beat our scout ships here, there is reason to question the safety of the fleet."

"If there's no report of a Fire Navy escort, then _why_ would our fleet be in danger from a teenage girl and her flying ball of fur?!" The sentence started softly with a great big crescendo and marked, staccato accents. It ended in a deafening fortissimo, clattering off the ice walls around us and echoing back as cacophony. I'm amazed when the ice doesn't crumble. From down the hall I can here a young child crying.

"Well, sir, we have two theories with regards to that. First is that an escort was there, but managed to stay out of sight until the scout ship broke pattern and headed back toward the local base located along the western coast of the Earth Kingdom. The other, slightly less believable, theory is that this girl is far more powerful that we thought."

"From the last reports she would've been defeated by one ship with an average captain leading it had it not been for her friend, Katara." This last word, the waterbender's name, sounds like a curse coming across his lips. "I find it hard to believe that she could have taken down ten ships on her own, or even with help for that matter."

"I have no definitive explanation at this time, sir. We have reports headed out to the base near by, and are asking for them to survey the areas around the Southern Air Temple for signs of a fight as that is believed to be their destination. It is feared that we will not hear anything further for a couple more days, sir. As soon as we get new intelligence on the issue it will be reported to you directly, as always." The sweat has finally appeared on my forehead and it trickles down, burning my eyes. Still, the sensation is not as uncomfortable as simply standing in front of a fuming mad dictator. Chief… I said Chief, right?

--

"Wait, what do you mean you don't eat meat? You're an Earth Bender, you've gotta eat meat! It's the natural order of things." Jung sat cross-legged on the dirt in front of the campfire, leaning over her knees, and staring at me in disbelief.

"Well, I spent most of my life as a nomad with my family. We didn't hunt, and we didn't really have any kind of income to buy the stuff."

"But, you joined the Fire Nation armies in battle! They didn't feed you meat then?"

"They tried." I gag at the memory of it. "I took a couple bites once and felt a bit nauseous. After that, just stuck to fireflakes, fire whiskey and whatever fruits and salads I could find."

Apparently, I am only the second vegetarian she has ever met. The first, obviously, was an air nomad, and used that as his reasoning for not consuming the stuff. Myself, Da Shan, not eating meat for the sheer joy of not eating meat she can not fathom. How could anybody be given the opportunity to eat meat and pass it up? "You're weird, rock head."

I chuckled at the incessant chatter from the young tattooed girl. For three days now we have been camping in a small mountain range that provided cover for our group. I know the river that flows just to the east of us will empty out into a delta along the coast at a large city. They can't set foot there, but a small town just up stream from it will offer the shelter and supplies (and baths) we need. Earlier in the day, Jung and Zuko managed to hunt down a platypus bear, supplying enough meat for weeks worth of snacks once the strips are dried and properly salted, and a couple days worth of meals before the flanks go bad. I can't wait to be rid of the vial smell of the stuff.

"Aren't you an air nomad? I thought you guys were all vegetarians." I had always felt a special link with the former avatar due to that fact.

"Nah, that's just some old tradition that died out a hundred years ago. In fact, as of a few years ago, there's not an airbender on the planet that doesn't eat meat with every meal."

I couldn't help but double over with laughter, as Jung leaned back into the dirt enjoying the cheery, though slightly morbid and poignant, humor of her comments.

Katara and Prince Zuko (whom I have repeatedly been instructed to just call Zuko, but it still feels odd) sit across from us. Zuko is simply eavesdropping on the conversation while Katara busies herself with the cooking. The previous night I had cooked our meal, and Jung, who apparently was forced to cook a lot of vegetarian meals in the past, in spite of the pangs it caused her, took up the chore the night before that. Zuko flat out refuses to do the cooking tomorrow, but it's not like any of us would dare eat a dinner prepared by the Fire Prince anyways.

Noticing the lull in our conversation, the child of Agni takes it as a chance to speak up. "So, Da Shan, how far are we from this town?"

"We should be there by noon tomorrow. It's a short trek from here. After that it'll be about a two day journey to the spot where we're scheduled to meet up with Sokka and Suki unless we hear otherwise from them."

"Alright everybody, dinner's ready." Katara starts pulling off the cooking pots and distributing the lovely meal. My plate looks a little naked in comparison, but smells remarkably better without the large slab of flesh bleeding into my potatoes and rice.

--

Toph had just lied back down on the bed in her cell after going through her standard earthbending movements. After three and a half years of imprisonment in a cube of ice where she couldn't feel any response from the energy expended, she was starting to wonder if it was even worth it to go through the motions, but it was also the only exercise she got, so she had to at least pretend it was doing something. Even if all it did was allow her to keep her sanity it _was _doing something. The sounds of crunching snow outside her window piqued her interest and she listened while small footsteps made there way up, and then landed with a miniscule thud on the inside of her ice box.

"Hey there, soggy." She whispered without looking over. Honestly, what good would it do?

"How'd you know it was me?" The child made his way over to the woman and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Well, I don't get many visitors. Especially not through the window."

"Don't you have friends that come by and visit?"

"Not yet. I'm sure they're on their way, though." Toph reached out and mussed the boys hair. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company tonight?"

"I made you a present. I wanted to stop by and give it to you before sneaking back into the palace."

"You didn't tell me you live in the palace." Toph was truly curious about the boy's life. There wasn't much else going on in her own to be interested in. "And you didn't have to make me a present either."

"Yeah, actually, I'm kinda not allowed out of the palace. I'm afraid they wouldn't like it much if they knew I was sneaking out." The boy then reached into the pocket of his fur coat and pulled out a block of pure, clear ice. "And I really wanted to give you a present. You're the only friend I have. Isn't that what friends do for each other?"

Toph couldn't help it. She smiled, and it was authentic, but she also let a tear drop from her blind left eye. She fought against it, but to no avail. She reached out her hand and accepted the proffered gift. A block of ice. Great. The sarcastic, cynical voice in her head, the one she didn't share with the boy that sat on her bed, screamed _yay! Ice! Just what I always wanted!_ The kinder, gentler voice from her mouth, the one that she had managed to hone from a few years of parenting, said something quite different. "Thanks. Umm, what is it?" Nobody said she honed it to perfection.

"Oh yeah. I forgot you can't see. Well, it's a piece of ice in the shape of a heart." Toph felt around at the almost smooth edges to try and get an idea of how it looked. "It's not quite right, but I'm getting better."

"No, it's perfect. Thank you." This time the gratitude was a bit more authentic.

"So, why don't your friends visit you?"

Toph's smile faded fast. "It's a long story. On the bright side it can easily be split into a few pieces. Would you like to hear it?"

"I'd love to, Toph. I'm not sure how much time I have, though."

"Well, let's break it up for you then. I'll tell you the first chapter of the story of my friends and our journey tonight. It starts in a small town called Gaoling, where I used to live with my parents until I was twelve, and ends in the catacombs beneath Ba Sing Se. I have to warn you, though. The first chapter doesn't end well."

"But, it gets better, right?"

"Well, the second chapter ends on the day the moon blocked out the sun, but it doesn't end well either. I promise, though, there's a happy ending. There's always a happy ending."

With that, Toph began the tale of her travels with an idiot that turned out to be a genius, an overbearing mother that had never given birth and an airhead that would save the world. In other words, she began the story of Snoozles, Sugar Queen and Twinkle Toes.

--

Jung was finding it difficult to sleep. She tried hard, lying in her sleeping bag, huddled close to the fire, eyes shut tight against the light. Sleep, however, just refused to come over her. Zuko and Katara sat on the other side of the fire, still awake, in a markedly uncomfortable silence. Katara would occasionally open her mouth and take a quick breath of air, about to speak, but inevitably second guess herself. At long last, both of them convinced that the teenagers were fast asleep, Zuko softly began conversation. "What's wrong with us, Katara?"

Katara was taken aback by the bluntness of the question. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Whenever we're apart we can't wait to see each other again. Every letter we send to each other we spill our hearts onto the page and we're fine with that. Then, we get together, and…"

"I screw it all up in an instant?"

"Well, I was going to say 'we'… or maybe 'I'… but yeah, that's the general idea."

"I don't know. When Aang and Toph were around it seemed so different." Katara reached up to "scratch" at her eye. "Aang would try to calm us down and get us to see it differently."

Zuko let out a half-hearted chuckle. "And if that didn't work Toph would yell at us until we saw the whole ordeal her way."

"You know," Katara started and looked over at Zuko. The scarred side of his face was towards her, and she thought about reaching up to touch it for a second. Zuko turned to look her in the eyes as she continued. "We could try to be more like them, sometimes, you know? We might be able to learn to compromise. Work together in ways that don't necessarily involve beating up the bad guy." The waterbender's right hand fell over her knee, resting in the space between the two.

"I'd be willing to try if you do." Zuko briefly squeezed his friend's hand before pulling his hand back to his lap. "But, don't tell the little airhead over there about our deal. We'd never hear the end of it."

"Deal."

Neither bender noticed as Jung's face curled into a familiar grin. For a moment, she was glad sleep refused to take her. The moment was short lived, however, as that is when they first felt the earth beneath them begin to shake.

--

**Did I just leave you with a cliffhanger? I NEVER do that, do I? Well, first time for everything I guess. Suffer, kiddies.**

**And, you know, I hate saying it, but I've noticed a few more people reading my stories, but still just the same two or three lovely, wonderful people leaving notes (3 you guys: Liooness, Sokkas Instincts 2, Avatar Airis). But, please, may I have some more? Even if you only read because you're curious as to how bad the new chapter sucks, tell me.**


	9. Small Hiccups

**I know, it's been a while. Don't kill me. Blame UCSB and they're retarded as admissions office! Now, just need to find housing before January. :o/ More stress, and more stress, and more stress.**

**Anyways, WOO! New chapter. And, more Toph being real Toph! (as opposed to slightly more grown up Toph.) Always fun.**

--

How do the blind dream? Does the mind create images that the eyes cannot see? Or do they dream in nothing more than scent and sound? Toph didn't know, for she was not, by any account, a normal blind individual. Toph dreamed in vibrations. Of course she dreamed in scent and sound, as well. She dreamed the taste of dust in the air or finely seasoned meats from Kyoshi Island. Most of all, though, she dreamed in a thousand different shades of black, and tonight she dreamed of things she never imagined experiencing again. The first image out of the blackness came as the ripples of a leaf falling to the ground in the fall. Then another, and another, forming footsteps. They formed footsteps that became footsteps only from the patterned falls. Then came the voice. A soothing tenor, with an air of power and devotion, and an optimistic lilt that only those trained vigorously in the suppression all things painful could possess.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Most people, confronted with the dreams of dead loved ones would feel a great mixture of emotions, one would presume. Confusion usually being first, considering their being dead and all. Quickly that would be willed away and succeeded by a feeling of sorrow at their passing, wonder at the impossibility of it, and great joy at being able to spend even this, imaginary as it may be, with those that have gone. Toph, however, felt none of this. Of course it was possible for former Avatars to do such things, and of course it was a dream in which she resided currently (for in actuality she could not sense the vibrations of anything in her current predicament). All Toph felt was anger.

"Yes, it's been a while Twinkle Toes! Where in creation have you been?! You couldn't have stopped by for tea in my dreams for the past, what, three, four years? And now you finally show up, and you're probably expecting me to be so happy to have you here at long last, aren't you?" If one had to breathe in dreams, Toph would be panting for the effort around this point, but alas, the poor deceased Avatar had not even begun to hear the rage from his beloved earthbending master. "Well, let me tell you! I am not happy at all, feather boy! I've been stuck here in a miserable shell of nothingness for ages with no word from you or those fair weather friends that we all held so dear! So don't come to me now expecting nothing but smiles and kisses and hugs, mister all powerful airhead! You're not going to get them from me!" The scolding went on like this for quite some times. Finally a silence passed between them.

Aang, or at least the dream of Aang, knew his place in this situation was to keep his distance. He spoke no less lovingly to his beautiful former wife, though. "I have been here. I have been here many nights, even nights that I did not intend to be, when you pulled me here of your own longing. Every night since my passing, when you awoke with no recollection of your dreams, I was there. Tomorrow, however, you will finally be allowed to remember it."

Toph's anger subsided enough that she dropped her accusing finger, as well as her heavy head. "I get the feeling there's some spirit world mumbo-jumbo that's allowing this? It must be important."

"It is, and I am sorry that this is the first time you'll be able to recall my voice in the morning. It is good news that I bring, though…"

--

Jung shot twenty feet in the air out of shock - a feat hardly worth mentioning for an airbender. However, it did give away the fact that she was not quite sleeping a moment prior. None of this mattered, however, as the cause of the rumbling beneath their feet was vastly more important. Jung grabbed her glider and started up into the air.

"Stop! Jung! Get back here and put on your hair!" Katara's voice rang out from below. The airbender gently guided herself back down to the camp site. She put on her disguise with great annoyance: the wig that covered up her hair and the arrow tattooed to her scalp, the gloves that covered up the blue on her hands, and knee high boots to cover the arrows on her feet.

"It's not like it makes a difference. If they see me in the air, they'll know who I am anyways." Jung grabbed her glider again and took off once more to see if she could find the source of the problem.

"Well don't you think that's a good reason to not be flying around up there?!" Katara screamed at the disobedient child soaring off in the night. She turned to pack everything up, only to find Zuko holding out her pack for her. Da Shan already had his bags strapped to him as well. She grabbed the bag and started heading towards the source of the thunderous noises that were still working their way through the mountains. She moved with purpose, while mumbling to herself. Something about a lack of rules in Jung's life, and a conversation she needed to have with Toph.

"Katara, maybe you should let me lead." Da Shan was almost running to catch up with the waterbending master. "It feels like a great deal of earthbending coming from the town that we were going to be heading towards. I should be able to find a more direct path."

Katara froze and shook her head as though just coming out of some reverie. "Yeah, that's a good idea," she said, conceding her lead position to the teenaged earthbender.

Da Shan was right about finding a more direct path of course. When one couldn't be found it was easy enough to make one. Remove moisture from plants in the way, set fire to the newly dried plants, cover with earth to smother the flames. Groves of trees and large overgrowths of manzanitaberry bushes were moved out of their way in seconds. After a half hour of travel in this manner, their progress could be judged by how much louder the rumbling became. It was becoming difficult to hold conversation without needing to scream over the racket of moving boulders. Then there came a gust of wind from behind them, and a light-footed girl with her staff in hand was running up from behind them with worry written all over her face.

"What's causing the noise?" Zuko spoke loudly over the constant crashing.

"Well, unless there's some midnight earthbending festival that I don't know about, I think our destination town is in trouble." She spoke too softly to be heard but the sound arrived at everybody's ears regardless. A simple trick she picked up when she was hiding secrets from her mom. "It looks like a war zone down there."

"Ai Qiuyue needs our help. Fast." Da Shan started wearing the path through the forest at double speed before their destination town could be demolished.

"Ai Qiuyue? Loving autumn moon? Sounds a bit, water-triby."

"It's was originally a farming settlement. They've had to build walls and hire mercenaries for protection from Jianguo. That's the port city I was mentioning. They've been at odds since the slaughter of Avatar Aang. From the sound of it, things have finally come to a head." Da Shan smoothed out one last rock formation, and the group finally saw the war raging in front of them.

They found one thing none of them were expecting to look upon, though. All the noise of the earthbending had drowned out the sounds of moving water, but there was a lot of it. Northern waterbenders were attacking along with the soldiers from nearby Jianguo. Katara rushed forward. Zuko screamed over the noise, "you two stay here, and stay out of sight! We'll take care of this." Both of them disappeared into the fray.

"Where are you going?" Da Shan asked as Jung started moving towards the battle.

"Where else? To beat up some waterbenders."

"But, Prince Zuko –"

"Uncle Zuzu is just paranoid. Now, are you coming with me or are you gonna hide over here like a scared little badger-mole?"

She was breaking a direct order from the prince of the Fire Nation – the ground leader of the entire Fire Nation Army. Not only that, but she called him "Zuzu"? Da Shan's jaw dropped.

"Alright, go ahead and hide behind a boulder somewhere, Rock Head. I'm gonna have some fun." Jung formed an air scooter and charged towards the battle, Leitha following after her.

Da Shan closed his mouth and ran after the airbender. "Wait up!"

--

The aggression that had built up in Katara over the past three and a half years had finally found an outlet. As soon as she was within range of the water skins hanging from the sides of the northern tribe soldiers, she started draining them. When she had emptied the reserves of five, now defenseless benders, she turned it right back on them. Two of her targets never saw the ice shards coming. The other three had no chance to react in time. With five soldiers dead on the ground in a matter of seconds, Katara moved on to the local earthbenders. On some level, she knew she may regret this scene once the adrenaline wore off, but there was no way she would let that slow her down now.

On the other side of the battle field, Zuko was trying to create order amongst the mercenaries that were losing ground fast. "Listen up! We need to form a wall of earthbenders here! Don't let any one pass!"

The reaction was not very good. A couple men tried to follow the order, most kept with the assault that they were already failing at. One particularly independent bender turned to face the prince and yelled his response. "Who are you, to think we should obey any order of yours?!"

Before a response could be voiced, Zuko reached past the man's side, launching a stream of fire on the ground at the bare feet of an enemy earthbender charging towards the pair. In the sudden light, the mercenary's eyes went wide.

"Everybody form a line!! Listen to Prince Zuko! He has been sent by the spirits to help us!" The group, now a little star struck into obedience, lined up immediately for as far around as the Fire Prince's words could be heard. That's when the prince noticed something that unnerved him. A lemur, flying just in front of his newly formed line of defense, was attempting to distract enemy soldiers.

"Dammit Jung!! I told you to stay out of this!" The words were shouted to nobody, though, as the airbender herself was a great distance away diving down on unsuspecting groups, using her airbending to flatten them against each other and surrounding rocks.

Da Shan, panting, ran up next to Zuko at the loud rebuke. "I'm sorry, sir. I tried to get her to stop."

"Listen, I want you to get the men down there to file in with the men here."

"On it, sir."

Da Shan sped off to communicate the order. With the name of the Fire Prince behind it, and the visibility of the flames being launched from his direction, the mercenaries obeyed, and found themselves finally stopping the progress being made by the opposing forces.

"Alright, we need to move them back now! On my count, I want a synchronized launch!" Da Shan shouted at the men in front of him. "1!... 2!... 3!!" A row of boulders shot up from the ground and forward, leveling a couple dozen men. He turned to see the same repeated on Zuko's side of the wall soon after.

Katara had long since lost track of how much blood she had spilled while acting as an assassin behind the enemy lines. Her own water reserves had run out long ago, and she began bending the thick red liquid lying at her feet. She cleared her mind enough to notice that the good guys were moving through the lines towards her. Looking back away from them she spotted a water bender running back away from the troupe towards a waiting ostrich-horse. An officer by looks of it. She froze the blood on the earth and launched herself towards the man, hoping to subdue him before he could ride away. She arrived just in time to freeze the mounts feet to the ground, causing it to buck the rider into the dirt. The battle behind her subsided as the remaining attacking soldiers dispersed and fled. Just as Katara was freezing the man to the ground, face up, in ice made from the blood of the fallen, Jung floated down and landed in front of the man.

"You look familiar," she breathed, allowing only the subject to hear her. "Why?"

The man's face twisted into a crooked smile as his eyes lit up. "I should hope so. That scar you've got was a main reason for my promotion."

This, everybody heard, but before anything else could be done, Jung picked up her staff, and swung it straight towards the man's temple. Now unconscious, the mercenaries carried him away as a prisoner, per Zuko's orders.

Katara looked around her at the dead men and women scattering the field. She tried to count how many of them had been killed by her. Failing to do so, she fell to her knees and vomited.

--

"Do you even know where we are?"

"Of course I do, sweety. We're in the high desert, and we've found a perfect place to camp for the night. Tomorrow morning we continue our move north, and I believe we'll find a town in the early afternoon where we can get some supplies. We'll have to find some kind of cover for the big guy here while we do that, though." Sokka patted the wind bison's side affectionately.

"I swear, by the grave of Kyoshi, if you have gotten us lost, you're gonna be waiting a long, long time before you get to do any of your 'sword-training' on me again." Suki wiggled her fingers in the air as quotation marks, and sounded quite disturbed the euphemism that her husband liked to use.

"Look, I know where we are, ok? Now, can we just get some sleep? We still have at least three days before we're supposed to meet up with the others, and we'll be able to fly again very soon." Sokka suddenly grew sad thinking about Suki's threat. "You wouldn't… really withhold our, training sessions would you?"

Suki cuddled up closer to her idiot husband, her head resting on his chest. "Of course not," she said softly. "But… Sokka?..." She broke off, as though wondering if it were the right time to tell him.

"Yeah, Suki?" He yawned, loudly, into her ear.

Suki gently patted his stomach and nuzzled her head into its resting spot a little more. "Nothing, I'll tell you in the morning."

The suspense kept Sokka worried enough to not be able to sleep. Well, maybe not. But it took him about fifteen minutes, until he kissed the top of her head, put his head back against pillow, and began to snore.

--

"Alright, I'm calm. Now, what's the good news you've brought, Twinkles?"

"Those 'fair weather friends' of ours, are on their way. You won't be stuck here much longer, dear."

Toph couldn't stop herself from smiling, but she then realized that she wasn't the only one stuck in this wasteland. "He will be, though," she sighed.

"No, he won't." Aang calmly closed the distance between himself and his former lover. Wrapping his arms around her tightly, he then whispered. "So, would you like some tea?"

"Eh, I think I can wait until I can get a hold of Iroh's."


	10. Unions and Reunions

**Still don't own ATLA, still not dead.**

**We are getting rather close to saving Toph! Promise! Only like, 3 more months of waiting for me to get off my ass and write. _**

**--  
**

"How?! You can't be…. I mean… I'm, well… Look at me, I can't do this!... and there's a war going on! The middle of a war is not the right time… and…"

"Sokka, shut up. We'll be fine." Suki tugged on his jaw so that he faced her. "And anyways, you've been going on like this since I told you three days ago! We're already a day late because of it!"

"But, what are we going to do? We have to get you back to the Fire Nation, and I don't want to leave you, but…"

"I know. Look, I'm not exactly as famous as the rest of you guys. I'll be fine." Suki reached down and patted her still slender stomach. "We'll be fine."

"You know, we're not exactly young." Sokka flinched as he saw his wife's hand go up.

"That was a warning."

"I'm sorry! It's just, how can we be sure it will be healthy, and that we can watch after it while it grows up?"

"Can you stop calling our child 'it', please?"

"Well, if I were to say 'him', you'd just be angry."

"No, I would not. I'd be sad, though."

"Why?"

"Because I was hoping our first child could grow up to be a powerful warrior."

Sokka shook his head, knowing he was asking for that. "You need to stop hanging out with Iroh. He's a bad influence."

"You kidding? I learn these things from watching you Sokka. I fully agree, though. I do need to stop hanging out with you. Look at the situations you get me into." Suki leaned in and kissed her husband.

--

"They're only one day late, Prince Zuko. I'm sure they're fine. We're safe here, anyways, so stop pacing like a mad man and sit down." Da Shan was growing irritated with the crown prince. When he wasn't cloaked in the guise of royalty and ceremony, he was way too anxious and emotional.

"It's not Sokka and Suki I'm worried about. Katara's been a wreck since that battle. And I told you to stop calling me that. This isn't Fire Nation military service anymore, we're here to help a friend, so, just act like you're one of us for once."

Da Shan resituated himself on the couch he was reclining in. Placing both hands behind his head as an extra support, he replied, "alright, unc-"

"Do NOT call me 'Uncle Zuzu', either!"

"Da Shan, are you angering Uncle Zuzu again?" Jung walked through the door, preceded, per usual, by the sparkle coming off of her teeth.

Zuko sighed, exasperated. "Is she still in there muttering to herself about how horrible she is?" Leave it to the Fire Prince to phrase everything in the worst possible way.

"Yeah, Katara's still pretty broken up." Jung walked over to the chair by Da Shan's feet, her blind right eye pointed towards him. "You really should try and comfort her, Zuko, you know her best."

Zuko simply nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the two teenagers behind to talk about, whatever childish things teenagers talk about while not being watched. Zuko stopped for a moment, second guessing whether he should leave two hormonally charged teenagers by themselves, but shook it from his mind and kept walking.

"You seem awfully up beat for just getting back from being with Katara. I wish I knew your secret."

Leitha swooped in through a window and landed on Da Shan's belly, curling up to rest. Jung sent the lemur a bitter, dejected pout, but she staid in her spot on the earthbender.

"She'll be fine in no time. You'll see. And the secret is all in meditation."

"You meditate?" Da Shan had been camping with this girl for a week straight now and had not once seen her anywhere near a meditative state.

"Of course I do. If you didn't sleep so darn much you would know that."

"You can blame Zuko for that one. All the sleep he never allowed me on the front adds up. I'm just making up for lost time this past week."

Jung chuckled. "You finally called him Zuko."

"Of course, he's not here to annoy, why would I call him anything else?" A slow, crooked smirk appeared across the earthbender's lips.

"You know, if you weren't so stuffy and formal half the time, you'd be a pretty cool guy."

"Why thank you, ma'am. I shall continue working on those areas you've critiqued." Da Shan pulled his hands around to his chest to mock bow, then quickly moved them back behind his head. "And you know, you may talk a bit too much, but you're kinda awesome every once in a while. Plus that scar is bad ass."

"I KNOW, right?! Can you believe Katara wants to get rid of it?!"

--

"Katara, you umm… wanna talk about it?" Zuko shuffled uneasily into the room.

"Not particularly," she squeezed out between a couple sobs. It had been like this on and off since the night of the battle. Their prisoner had been left behind in the town of Ai Qiuyue to face his punishment, but only after making it clear to the group that their location would be known to Chief Hahn in no time. For the three days since they left, Katara could not seem to get the image of the battle out of her mind.

"You agreed to be a part of our deal as well, Katara. We'll break it in less than a week if we don't open up a bit, emotionally, towards each other."

The waterbender wiped her tears off on her sleeves and sniffled a bit. "Alright, but you better be willing to as well when the time comes. I don't want to hear any of your 'it's complicated' excuses any more."

"Alright, I promise, just, open up here. We're all here to help you, Katara."

"I'm a terrible, horrible person, Zuko." Sniff. "How could I have done that?"

"You're not a horrible person, Katara. You're the most kind-hearted person I know." Zuko reached out and placed a slightly warmed hand on his friend's shoulder. "You remember, during the war, when we went and found the old leader of the Southern Raiders?"

"I was just thinking that too. I mean, that man killed my mother. She was completely defenseless and he killed her right there in our house. Somehow, though, I was able to let that man live." Sniff. Katara raised a hand to wipe more tears away with her wrist. "These men, that did nothing to me, are gone. What if they had families?"

"What do you mean they did nothing to you? They are part of the reason that the Avatar is gone. I know it might not be your mother, but still… He was like your child back when we were kids. He was like a brother to all of us for so long. That little dork was just as much family to you as Sokka."

"I guess it helps that they were still fighting, too."

Zuko nodded his head slowly. "They would've killed a lot of people if you had not taken them down first. Plus, none of us are perfect. All of us have killed before, unfortunately. It's an unavoidable consequence I guess, of being a hero in our world."

"Aang never killed anybody."

"Aang was different. That boy could see the good in anybody. Literally! He gave mercy to my father. He convinced me to just banish my sister, then he kept watch to make sure she didn't go any more insane."

"And it always worked. I was there to see it work every time. Non-violence can solve these situations, or at least non-lethal force. I shouldn't have taken the lives of those men."

"None of us are perfect, Katara. You've gotta accept that you might not be right all the time. Just, eerily close to all the time." Zuko smiled a little, but the waterbender seemed unmoved. "Ok, I guess that wasn't as funny as I thought. Or as flattering. Look, what I'm tryin– "

Katara had leaned over and kissed his cheek, and nestled her head into the Prince's shoulder. "Thank you." They sat there in silence for some time. Katara, happy to have somebody to cuddle against, and Zuko, not sure exactly as to what was going on.

"You know, if Jung saw us like this -"

"She's gonna make fun of us about it whether we do this kind of stuff or not."

"Sokka would kill me."

"The great poweful fire lord afraid of a water tribe peasant?" Katara just wanted him to stop complaining and accept the closeness, if only for a couple minutes. "He can't even bend."

A door could be heard opening and slamming shut nearby. "That's probably him now, you know?" Zuko couldn't quite tell why his body refused to move away from the waterbender. "He's gonna be insufferable if he sees us."

"Too late, get away from my sister right now." Sokka dropped his bag with a thud.

"You seem to have an impeccable knack for destroying all things sentimental, Sokka. You know that?" Katara didn't lift her head from Zuko's shoulder to say this. Zuko did, however, flinch a bit, not knowing what to do.

"What? You're actually a part of this... this... Umm… what's going on here?"

Zuko and Katara both spoke without hesitation. "It's complicated."

"Hmm, right now I think I have enough complicated. So, you guys eat dinner yet? I'm starving."

"That does sound good," Katara said finally pulling her slightly red eyes open and away from the firebender. They have a kitchen or anything in this apartment?"

"Sounds good, we'll catch up after some dinner. Who's turn is it to cook tonight, anyways?" Zuko stood up from the edge of the bed he was sitting on and helped Katara do the same.

--

"But, that can't be how it ends, Toph! I mean, I know he doesn't die! Remember? You promised there was a happy ending!"

"I know what I promised, and that's not the ending. In a strange way, actually, I have a peculiar happiness remembering that day while we left Ba Sing Se."

"Why would you be happy about that?"

Toph thought about how to answer him. She was nowhere near happy while they were on Appa the day that Aang died in the catacombs. She was a little relieved when she heard that sharp intake of breath that could only belong to Twinkle Toes, but it was a long way from joy. In fact, that moment saddened her and plagued her mind for a number of years until she realized why it had affected her so much.

"Well, it's not that it's a happy memory. It's just, that day, on the verge of losing Twinkle Toes, that was the day it first struck me that he truly was the one that saved me, and showed me what it meant to be free. I think that was the day that I realized, no matter how much of an idiot that kid was, or how much of a push-over he'd be if I wasn't there to beat it out of him, I might actually like him as more than just a friend. It's like this Earth Kingdom song I remember hearing. I think it was JoNee Maisho that sang it. I don't remember much of it, but part of the chorus was 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?' Thankfully, for me, that little airhead was harder to kill than most people. I had plenty more time to slap him around for scaring us all like that."

"All this bending stuff sounds really cool. You think I can watch you earthbend sometime?"

"Sure thing, Soggy, as soon as we get off this ice."

**--**

**For those that didn't catch on, the song at the end that Toph is referencing is "Big Yellow Taxi" by Jodi Mitchell.**

**A bit shorter than normal, but I really to move on from this particular spot in the story. This piece seems to drag to me, so I tried to make it as interesting as possible. Hope the random jokes weren't too bad for you.  
**


	11. Greatest Airbender on the Planet

**Made a few minor changes and republished the last chapter (much love to SokkasInstincts for the help there. We'd all be better off following the advice of Sokka's Instincts. lol... ok, that really wasn't that funny. whatever, i'm closing these parenthenses now) so if you're subscribed to this or something, you _can_ reread the last chapter, but not really necessary, and I apologize for the extra e-mail that it undoubtedly sent out.**

**Now, on with the new chapter.**

**Ohh, don't own Avatar.  
**

--

"Alright, little guy, where were we?"

"Twinkle Toes just beat up the bad guy and took away his bending, then you all had a party and drank tea. But, he was kissing Katara." Darru sounded very confused by this.

"Don't worry, I got my turn as well. Just, not that day.

"So, after the party, we all went back to the Fire Nation to see Uncle Iroh finally get his crown. It was a visit that none of us would forget, and not for good reasons. You remember how I told you Sugar Queen and Sparky beat the crazy princess?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that crazy princess was such a good firebender, and so powerful that the prison they put her into couldn't hold her. No prison could. She managed to sneak back into the capital shortly after the coronation –"

"The what?"

Toph regularly forgot how young the boy was. A lot of time was spent back tracking to explain long words. "Coronation. It's kind of a celebration of a king getting his crown. It's where everybody gathers around and celebrates their new leader and hopes that nobody has to go and beat him up like they did to the last one."

"Ohh, ok."

"Well, shortly after the celebration, we were all heading into town, and all split into pairs. There was Sparky and Sunshine, Sugar Queen and Twinkles, and Snoozles and Fan Girl."

"I still don't like Fan Girl."

Toph smiled and patted Darru's head. "Thatta boy. Don't worry, though, I got over it, and she's actually a pretty cool person. Her name is Suki, by the way. Anyways, we were all heading into town to get a few drinks (on the house of course, as we just ended the war), and some free food for the pit that is Snoozles. It was a very crowded street. I guess that's why I didn't notice her coming until it was too late. The crazy princess must have followed us, and right when we turned a corner, her feet hit the ground at the end of the road. Before I could do anything to protect us there was a bolt of lightening heading at us. I'm not sure who it was aimed at. Could've been Sparky, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was aimed at the one it hit. Either way, the lightening struck Sunshine right in the chest."

"But, Katara was there! The gloomy girl didn't die, did she? She was so nice when she wasn't trying to kill you."

"A lot of people are nice when they're not trying to kill me, actually, but, unfortunately, Sweetness didn't have any water with her. She wasn't expecting to fight anybody. She tried to get water out of the air, but the Fire Nation capital is a pretty arid place, and –"

"Arid?"

"Dry. There's not much water in the air."

"Sounds awful."

"For you, yeah, it would probably be really annoying. Well, because it was so arid, Sweetness couldn't save Sunshine." A tear tried to form in Toph's eye. She refused to add more water to the room, though and held onto it. "They did, however, catch the princess again."

"And they killed her?"

"Nope."

"But, Zuko's girlfriend?"

"Yeah, but Twinkles spent weeks convincing Sparky to banish her instead, after her bending ability was removed of course. She might still be alive in the Earth Kingdom today. I'm not sure. Maybe she even came here to the north pole."

--

"What are you talking about? It can't be your birthday. Wasn't it right near the end of summer when you were… wait… It's near the end of summer already?! We're going to miss the reunion! All that free food, and we don't get any of it?!"

"Ohh can it, Snoozles. I'm sure Suki will save you some. Thanks again for the new wig, Zuko! If I have to wear a disguise, at least I can wear one that's my own hair color."

"It was Katara's idea, actually. She said it'd even be long enough to put up in a bun like your mom's."

"If I had known I would've gotten you something too, Jung." Da Shan was packing all the baggage they couldn't carry onto Appa's back. The sun had only been hanging above the horizon for about an hour, but everybody was already moving around. Sokka only managed to climb out of his sleeping bag due to the alluring scent of the sausage his sister was in the middle of cooking. "Tell you what, you want me to do anything for you today, you name it, alright?"

Jung's face brightened as her lips curved into a menacing grin. "You're gonna regret saying that, you know?" She said cheerily.

The young earthbender's shoulders slumped forward a little. "I already do." He looked over at the day's breakfast en route to the group. They stopped their packing for a moment to sit down for the meal.

"Ok, first –"

"I'm not eating the sausage."

"Aww, you wussing out already?"

"No, I just don't see how my eating meat could have any effect on you. I said I would do anything 'for you' today."

Katara sighed softly, having only just heard the deal. She looked at the boy with pitying eyes. "It's going to be a long day for you, Da Shan. Good luck."

The group began shoveling food into their mouths (though, none faster than Sokka, of course) and spoke little while the food was in front of them. When they were finished Zuko insisted on taking care of the dishes, though Katara easily could have done the job faster with her bending.

"Alright, rockhead, your first task."

Da Shan let out a quick breath and tried his best to look forward to his, undoubtedly humiliating or tiring, job. "What you got?"

"I want you to come meditate with me."

The earthbender was surprised at such a simple task being asked of him. "Umm, alright. Guess it's good to know how to anyways, considering I'm going to be training with the Great Master soon."

"Are you kidding? Never tell her you meditate. She thinks it for sissies." Jung started towards a clearing not far from their camp site, Leitha planted firmly on her right shoulder, Da Shan following behind.

The siblings sat alone next to Appa at their camp site. "So, what do think of the name Kuruk?"

"Why is it that you keep thinking of male names? And seriously, Kuruk is a terrible name. It went out of fashion hundreds of years ago."

"But it'd be honoring Aang, only with a water tribe name. And I keep thinking of male names because he's going to be a boy."

Katara shook her head at her brother, bracing for another day full of chauvinism. There are some things even Suki couldn't beat out of him entirely. "Why does it have to be a boy?"

"It's all in the genes. The first born is always male in our family. I mean, I'm older than you. And dad was the first born as well."

"Dad was an only child. Besides -"

"Yeah, but he was male."

"… Besides… We don't even know anything about Grandad, he was off in the war effort before we were born. You have two generations to judge from, Sokka. That's not a great list to base it all off of."

"You know, you could have just said you don't like the name."

"Alright, I don't like the name." Katara shifted her attention towards Zuko, who was just finishing the chore he had undertaken. "I'll go get the kids. We need to get moving. We should reach the coast by nightfall."

"They won't be happy," Zuko intervened as he arrived at his pack, hoisting it onto his shoulder. "They only left a couple minutes ago."

"Are you kidding? Da Shan will be thrilled to see her. You ever try to meditate? Dull stuff, Zuko. I don't recommend it."

"I meditate every day, Sokka." The prince grabbed Sokka's bag and tossed it towards its owner. "You know, for a self proclaimed water-tribe genius, there's a lot you don't know about the people around you."

A few minutes of silent travel preparation passed before the rest of the party returned to Appa's side. "And you waste how much of your day doing that?"

"It's not a waste of time! Just because you couldn't even sit down right. Even Leitha can sit in a lotus position."

"Master Toph is right. It is for sissies."

"I can still beat your butt."

Zuko walked up carrying two bags. "Let's go guys, got to get moving."

"Alright, your next job is to carry my bag for me, boulder brain."

--

Da Shan was panting heavily under the weight of two fully stuffed backpacks. "Jung, please, can you –"

"Who?" Jung looked smugly at the struggling earthbender, who sighed in defeat.

"My Liege, Great Master Jung, Greatest Airbender on the Planet…" He paused in an attempt to remember the rest of the title he was directed to use for the rest of the day.

"… aaaand?"

"And Not Just Because She's the Only Airbender on the Planet, but Because She is Amazing and Powerful and Most of All Lovely."

"Ok, continue."

"Can you please take your bag for a little bit? I need a free hand to drink some water."

"Alright, here, give me the bags." Jung reached out and took both her own bag and Da Shan's bag from off the earthbender's back, throwing one over each shoulder without showing any sign of strain.

"How is that so easy for you?"

"They're light as feathers if you use airbending to support them." The girl giggled at the agony written on her companion's face. "Here, take my staff, I'll carry the bags the rest of the way."

"Sure, now that we can see the shore."

"Alright, enough of the bickering guys." Katara came up behind them, with Zuko at her side, and Sokka lagging behind Appa, panting heavily under the weight of his own possessions. "Let's stop here for now, to make sure we have the plan down."

Everybody looked towards Sokka. "Haha! Now you all want to hear what I have to say, don't you?"

Jung offered a trade. "Give us a plan and I'll let you ride on Appa for the rest of the trip to town."

"Sweet! Alright, here we go. The city is 100% in support of the Northern Water Tribe. The proximity makes it tough not to be. They'll have posters up everywhere warning of our arrival. Everybody has to know where we're heading, so we can't buy tickets to the North Pole. So, we throw them a curve. Since Da Shan and I are the least recognizable of all of us, we'll go in there and buy four tickets to the Northern Air Temple. Katara will have to ride on Appa under water for the first leg of the trip so she can stay out of sight, and keep a bubble around the fur ball's head." Appa roared with distaste at the insult. "Hey, I'm keeping you alive, buddy. Also, Leitha will have to travel with them. Lemurs aren't exactly the most common pet in the Earth Kingdom. Da Shan and I will be able to get onto the ship easily enough. Zuko and Jung, you're going to have to come up with something to get on board."

"Don't buy me a ticket." Zuko looked out from the cliff side, scanning the path down the mountain and into the town.

"Appa can only carry one person in that air bubble. Otherwise we'll be risking not having enough air to get out of sight."

"I'll be fine. I'll be on that ship with you guys. Jung can disguise herself pretty easily. Make sure she wears that blindfold to keep the scar hidden. I'll stow away on the storage deck. My scar is too recognizable."

"You sure you'll be able to get on board?"

"Absolutely. It's just a matter of remembering the old Blue Spirit days."

"Ok, so we're heading to the Northern Air Temple first?" Jung asked.

"Yeah, Teo will be thrilled to see us, and he's always got some useful new invention. Plus from there, it's only a two day trip on Appa with no cities to pass over."

--

"Wait, who is she?"

Da Shan was struck dumb, unable to make an excuse for the tall, slender girl with the blindfold on. Sokka, however, came up with a quick lie that he knew he would be punished for later. "She is my son's betrothed. We are taking her to the Air Temple with us to invite a few friends of the family to the wedding in person."

Jung struggled against the rising wave of laughter that wanted to come out at the comments, and succeeded. Instead it just pulled the corners of her mouth into what could be interpreted as a shy smile.

"What's with the blindfold?"

"Unfortunately, she is blind, and her eyes dry up very fast when they are exposed. It's heartbreaking, for my son of course, but you know what they say: You get what you pay for."

Jung no longer wanted to laugh. In fact, Jung wanted very much to airbend her not quite uncle, and currently fake father-in-law, into oblivion. The smile, however, remained as strong as ever. When her eyes weren't showing it was tough to tell the difference between a real smile and one of maniacal plotting. Through all of this Da Shan stood blushing with Jung's arm laced through his own.

"Please, sir, we're in a hurry. That ship is the last one that would arrive at the temple tonight, and we're already a day late according to the message we sent to them," Jung said, trying to get away from the interrogation as quickly as possible. The sooner they were on the ship, the sooner she could kick Sokka's knees in.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure they wait for you." He took a step closer to the airbender and seemed to be examining her hair. "Hmm… That headband. It looks like it's of Fire Nation origin. Where did you say you were from?"

"It's a family heirloom. It's all we have left of my mother's grandmother, and her heritage. She was disowned by her family in one of the western colonies after she fell in love and married an earthbender during the war. She was wearing the headband when she left. My mother gave it to me upon the finalizing of my engagement." She knew all those bed time stories Aang told her would come in handy someday. "My family is now living on a farm, a few furlongs south of Ba Sing Se."

"Ahh… Well it's a lovely piece of finery, and a wonderful story to pass on to your own daughter some day, right guys?"

The young couple faked a laugh and agreed before being allowed to pass onto the ship. As they did so they got a quick glimpse of the lower decks being loaded by Earth Kingdom workers. Sokka pointed them out and whispered over to Jung, "Which one of those oil barrels do you think the old jerkbender is in?"

--

Zuko, clad in black leather from head to toe, managed to get into the storage facilities of the shipyard without incident. Now, however, he needed to make sure he was getting on the right boat. He methodically dug through package after package, doing his best to stay in the shadows and remain silent. Thankfully, the guards were loud and liked to make their presence known. They patrolled in pairs and talked perpetually to each other to stave off the boredom that comes with a job like watching boxes not get stolen. Zuko climbed up a pillar and stuck to the rafters as he heard one such pair approaching.

"Did you see that picture of the airbender on the wanted poster?"

"Yeah, man, tell me about it. I wouldn't mind getting in on some of the action when she gets captured."

Zuko already didn't like these guys. What they were saying only made it worse. It took all of his self control to not drop down and pummel the two imbeciles into the ground in defense of Jung's honor.

"Nah, you're too old. What are you now, 35?"

"Hey, 35 isn't old."

"I'm just saying, maybe you should just go for her mom. From what I hear she's still looking pretty good too. Not to mention everybody knows where to find her." The younger guard winked at his buddy. "My brother is a guard in her prison. He talks to her all the time when he's bringing her food. I bet he could get you some alone time if the price is right."

The Fire Prince had heard enough. He slowly descended from his perch and crept up behind the two. Before either of them saw it coming, a single sweep of Zuko's foot brought both men to the ground face first. A few well placed punches and the older guard was unconscious, having seen nothing at all. Pressing his left hand firmly over the younger man's mouth, to keep him from yelling, the prince spoke to the man.

"Do you know who I am? Just nod, don't try to speak."

He nodded.

"Point at the ship that's heading to the Northern Air Temple."

The man's eyes were wide with fear and his body trembled. An arm slowly reached up and pointed to the back of the ship that Sokka, Da Shan and Jung had already boarded.

"Thank you." Zuko looked as if he were going to leave the man there for a moment before balling his fist. "Good night."

--

"Good, you made it. Hope you didn't have any trouble finding the right boat."

"Of course not, Sokka. I did however bring a carry on with me. I hope they don't mind."

"What kind of carry on? Did you pack extra robes or something? Cause, honestly, you should have. It's gonna be cold up there."

"No Sokka, it wasn't extra robes. It should come in handy though. Think you can come down and help me sneak him into your quarters?"

"Him?"

--

Toph slept uneasily. It had been weeks since the dream of Aang, and she could no longer remember if the dream really happened, or if it was just some false memory. She tossed and turned and could not find rest for hours. When sleep finally did come it began with terrible nightmares: visions of the last battle during the comet all those years ago, memories of her last night of freedom as she fought off water tribe attackers with her husband dieing just a few feet away. Then the dreams got worse. Images she hoped she'd never have to witness. Things she prayed to the spirits would not come to pass. She felt the light, but direct vibrations that were her daughters' foot steps, and felt her fall to the ground, dead. She heard Katara screaming in agony as a fire blast struck the waterbender in the face. Wait. Fire blast? These aren't real. These can't be real, fire is no longer the enemy. Then, there was calm.

"Aang?" Toph cried out to the darkness. "Please tell me this isn't real. Please tell me this isn't some crazy spirit world magic showing me the future."

No answer.

"Aang?! I know you're here somewhere."

An autumn leaf falls.

"Twinkle Toes." It's barely more than a whisper. "Jung's still alive right? They couldn't have killed Fancy Feet."

"Yes, our girl is still alive."

The familiar vibrations of the avatar were suddenly beside Toph. She was sitting down, apparently. So was he.

"You skipped all the best parts in your story, you know."

"What are you talking about? All the battle scenes were in full detail, Twinks."

"Yeah, but you barely mentioned our first kiss."

"What are you talking about?" Toph leaned the side of her head into Aang's shoulder. "You were a terrible kisser at the start. That was no where near the best part."

"Well, you also didn't mention when I proposed to you at all. You skipped over Jung's first words."

"Ohh yeah. Grabbing a blind earthbender around the waist and flying hundreds of feet in the air – not real romantic. And, do you really want me to explain 'Dada, splat'?"

"Ok, good point. Even in the spirit world my arm still hurts from that fall." They laugh. "You know, you didn't lie to him when you said there was a happy ending."

"The last moment of my freedom was you dieing, and myself being thrown into an ice cube."

"Trust me. There's a happy ending. It just hasn't been written yet."

"Please, just tell me I get to beat up some waterbenders something fierce before it ends."

"You will. Three days."

Then he was gone, back into the abyss.


	12. Good Bender, Bad Bender

**Yes, that's right. I actually updated a story. For those that have forgotten and don't feel like looking back through the whole mess, Hahn controls North Water Tribe, attacks Aang's family (Aang dies, Toph is imprisoned, Jung escapes to be a nomad for three years before story truly starts) and now we're on our way to the Northern Air Temple, just before the invasion of the Water Tribe! :oD**

**Yeah, I included that, because I suck and haven't updated in months. Sorry guys. I really do love you, just life has sucked ass recently (hence "The Passing of a Legend" oneshot).**

**I don't own Avatar.**

**Now, on with the show.  
**

**--**

I awoke on a ship to the sounds of a loud argument. It took a moment to organize the events that led to this. I was on guard duty. Jie and I were making our rounds through the storage area. Prince Zuko. He's heading to the Northern Air Temple. I try to stand up and realize that my hands and feet are tied. That would also explain the gag in my mouth. I try to listen to the argument going on outside the room I'm in.

"What do you mean we can't wait? She should be here when we do this!"

"We won't… this ship!... explain to people… only way to…"

"At least… let me… alright?"

Suddenly the door opens and two people walk in. Prince Zuko, followed by a blindfolded woman. Her long hair, half draping down her back, half up in a bun, is held in place by a red and gold metal head band. The door shuts behind them with the loud ringing of iron, and they lock it shut. The girl sits down in front of me without any need of being shown where I am, and she takes off the head band, followed by the hair, and finally the blindfold. Jung. This can't be good.

"Listen, Zuko and I are looking for information. There are two ways we can do this. You can either cooperate, by pretending to be one of us until we get you off the ship, and we'll ask you the tough questions then, or you can go back to the storage deck with Zuko now. Now, I'm going to take the gag out of your mouth so you can answer us. If you try to yell for help, you really leave us no choice but to send you off with Zuko. Do you understand?"

Her eyes are filled with pity. I try to stay calm. I nod, and she begins removing the gag. Zuko pulls a chair up and sits down next to me. His expression is unreadable. There's a tinge of anger in him, but a strange calm beneath it. It looks like he's in the middle of a deep and competitive game of Pai Sho, trying to read his opponent without giving up his own next move and it scares me. I can feel my heart pounding. I don't scream. I don't say a word.

"You have really pretty eyes."

I turn back to Jung, shocked.

"And bare feet. An earthbender?"

I nod.

"I thought your brother guards my mom's cell?"

"Yes. My brother is a waterbender. Our father was from the Earth Kingdom, mother fro-"

"We're not asking for your life story. Jung, can you at least keep this on track! We're losing time!"

"You know, my mother is an earthbender." She looks hurt. I look towards the ground, unable to stand the pain in her eyes. "Do you know where she is?" I don't answer.

"Answer her!" I jump at the sound of Zuko's voice in my ear. The temperature in the room rises.

"Yes," I squeak out. "I know where she is."

"Zuko, I really think we need to wait. We can get him to the temple, Katara will be there then."

"We don't need Katara for this."

"Do you have any idea how angry she'll be about this if she's not here to make sure you're not trying to kill him?"

Katara. Katara's already at the Air Temple? This isn't good. I have to find a way to tell somebody.

"How do you intend to get him off this ship? Do you really think we can just pretend he's with us?"

Jung looks into my eyes again. That right eye of hers is creeping me out. Milky sheen covering the grey iris. Little specks of red staining the whites around it. And that scar. It still looks fresh, bright pink, as though the scabs came off of it two days ago. I remember hearing somebody boasting about giving her that scar. Some heartless waterbender, but then, in her eyes I'm no better. "What's your name?"

"Lee."

She smiles a little at this. It really fits her. The lines in her cheeks make sense when she's smiling. "I really hate to give you an ultimatum like this, Lee, but you really only have two choices. You can either come with us to the Air Temple, or we can get information from you here."

I hesitate. Katara is at the Temple, and from the way they're talking, I think I want her to be around. "I'll go with you guys."

"And if you try to do anything funny, I won't hesitate to put enough lightening into you to melt your eyes. Clear?"

I nod.

Zuko doesn't say anything. He still doesn't look happy with any of this. "Look, you're the one that made a promise to her, alright, not me! If she's going to go crazy, pissed off, sugar queen style on anybody here, it's going to be you."

"How'd you know about –"

"Don't worry about that, just worry about keeping your skin attached to your body and agree with me. We wait until we're at the temple."

Zuko grunts. "Alright, but if we get caught getting him off the ship, it's on you."

"I'll go get Da Shan. He'll make a great guard."

"Why Da Shan? I can watch him."

"I don't trust you with a prisoner, I'm sorry. And because he'll do whatever I want. I'm starting to think he might actually like me."

"Poor guy."

She put the extra accoutrements back on and left quickly.

"Good bender, bad bender, huh?"

"Shut it before I burn it shut."

--

Getting off this ship is going to be my last chance to tell anybody. I can't risk my captors discovering me, though. Apparently Sokka and this earthbender, Da Shan, are going to escort me off the ship. Zuko and Jung have already gone down to the storage deck and are sneaking out the same way he got me here. Zuko also left his shoes to cover my feet. It's odd to have my feet covered for the first time in years, but my plan should still work.

I fall on my side as the ship pulls into the harbor. Da Shan pulls me back up and unties the ropes holding my hands and feet stationary. Walking off the ship, Sokka is in front of me, Da Shan behind me. I twist my arm as we get onto the land, and I see, out of the corner of my eye, the earth shift behind a guard. I don't turn to see if I spelled it right, but I see another motion in the earth that I didn't create. Da Shan must've seen it. All I can do is hope somebody else did first.

We move towards a large metal contraption built into the base of the huge mountain, and I see Jung and Zuko already waiting for us. Da Shan leans over and whispers into my ear. "I'm not going to tell Zuko what you tried to pull, but I am going to tell Jung. Consider yourself lucky."

Looking up I see dozens of people gliding near the temple, one of them slowly making his way toward us. He comes to a gentle stop in front of us, seated in a chair with a large canopy above it. "Hey, who's your friend?"

"His name's Lee, he's going to help us today. Right?" The lilt in her voice oddly makes it sound like she means every word of it. As though 'friend' were actually a possibility.

"Umm, yeah, of course."

Jung continues, "it's great to see you again, Teo. Has Katara arrived yet?"

"Yeah, she actually sent me down with your glider." The airbender takes a staff from Teo. "We figured you'd want to just fly up there. I'll take the lift here with the rest of them."

The girl bends over to give her friend a hug, then spins the staff around as it opens into a bright, green and steel-blue glider. "Wait, Jung. Can I speak to you for a second?" Da Shan. The kid is about to tell her that I wrote her name in the stone, in an attempt to warn somebody. They step aside for a moment before she jumps into the air, and the glider, with her hanging onto it, flies off up the mountain in a blur.

--

"Ok, Da Shan, do you know if anybody else saw it?"

"I can't be completely sure one way or another, Jung. All I know is that it was there, plain as day, and we can't take the risk of being here any longer than is necessary."

I look back toward Teo. "We'll need a way out fast. We'll take Appa across to the back end of the city. I don't know what to do with Lee, though."

"I have a few ideas," the Fire Prince states matter-of-factly.

Katara cuts him off. "No, Zuko, we got the information we needed from him. We're done with him as a prisoner. If we attack fast enough we have enough time to get there before the city is warned."

I take a deep breath. "There's also the possibility that nobody saw it at all. They probably think we're still back in Ai Qiuyue or something."

Sokka sighs heavily. "You think she'd know better having grown up with Aang. Nothing ever works out like that in our little family. Katara's right, though. We need to get the prisoner back unharmed, but we can't let him go until we know it won't get in the way of our plans. We have to get out of here. Teo, can you hold Lee for a few days to give us a little time?"

"No problem. I've been trying to find a use for the sacred chamber ever since my father's war machine production stopped. Jung, if you can open the doors for us, it'll make a great prison cell that nobody will be able to get into for a while. We'll just drop food and water in to him through the top."

Zuko spoke up. "Alright. The rest of us will start loading up Appa, we'll need to be out of here as soon as possible."

I walked down the familiar halls, staff in hand, Leitha on my shoulder. It'd be nightfall by the time we got out of here, and it'll take all day to reach the cave that will be our base for the assault on the North Pole. A fierce battle waited for us, and I knew it. It was nice to think, that this one time, just maybe, something would work out in our favor. So, they probably saw my name in the rock, but maybe they thought it was a prank. Maybe they didn't believe it. Maybe we won't have to fight our way through the entire military force of the North Pole between the entrance to the Spirit Oasis and the prison outside of the palace. It was doubtful, but one could still hope.

--

Avatar Darru sat quietly in his room listening to the screaming he could hear from Chief Hahn's war room. He picked up bits and pieces of it coming through. Mostly "Darru" and "waterbending". He had been careless about his practice that day. He was concentrating so hard on braiding three strands of water he was pulling out of the ground that he did not hear the guards at his door until it was too late. The door opened, the water splashed against the floor, and there had been screaming ever since. Three guards stood outside his window, not allowing him to leave. Another guard stood in his room with him ensuring the child did not continue his waterbending. He didn't quite know which was worse: being cut off from his element, or being cut off from his only friend. It is, after all, situations like this where one wishes to run to somebody that might be able to offer a shoulder, or a hug, or some sage advice, or at the very least a punch in the shoulder not aimed to do permanent damage. He wanted desperately to escape to the canals or to Toph, but he was surrounded by people much more powerful than himself, and so he laid down on his bed, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

Not far away, a blind woman sat in a too small ice cube thinking that water or even snow, would be a nice improvement if only to escape the monotony. As she closed her eyes she remembered a dream from the night before, and said to herself, barely audible even to her highly sensitive ears, "two more days."

--

**A/N: I make no promises of a speedy update for the next chapter, but I am working on it (and I have a great scenario playing out in my head for the invasion that i really hope works out in everybody's interest, mostly yours', the readers)**

**Re: The Lives We Touch, I've got the next chapter in the works, but not quite sure where I'm going with that one yet. The story keeps pulling me away from where it was intended to go... hell that thing was supposed to be a oneshot.**


	13. On the Eve

**That's right, it's back. One more chapter of action and climactic GLORY after this, then probably some sort of epilogue style chapter after that. So, 2 more chapters and you no longer have to wait around for months to read the next chapter. :oD**

**Still don't own 'em.  
**

**--**

"Is that the cave there?"

"No, but it's not far from the cave we were planning for, and the sun is rising. We should travel by night." Zuko turned back to see Katara, Sokka and Da Shan had fallen asleep in the back of the saddle. "Let's set up camp there and wait till the sun sets again to continue moving."

Jung yawned, nodded, and brought Appa down to rest in the large cave the two benders were discussing. After unloading everybody Katara awoke long enough to seal up the mouth of the cave with a thick layer of ice to hide them, as Da Shan bent a couple small air holes in the thinner parts of the rock walls so they wouldn't suffocate. Sokka refused to wake up, so Jung moved him, roughly, to a corner of the cave using her bending, and went to set up her own spot to sleep in.

"Need any help with that?"

Looking up, Jung saw Da Shan heading towards her with his own bag. "Thanks, but I'm alright here. Looks like we're going without supper tonight, though. You wouldn't happen to have any extra meat on you, by chance?"

Da Shan shook his head and grinned. "No, but you could probably find some in Sokka's bag."

"Nah, he's already passed out and that bag is a mess. It's like some old lady's handbag or something, and there's no telling what you'll pull out of it. Gives me the creeps."

A grumbling was emitted from Sokka's corner of the cave that sounded suspiciously like "I heard that, arrow-girl," but the two teens didn't seem to pay any mind.

"It's going to be cold. Even sleeping during the day it's gonna get cold." Jung complained and briefly looked over to see Katara scooting herself closer to Zuko, both already wrapped up and trying to get some sleep. "That's not fair! _I _want a firebender to sleep next to, too!" Jung sent a gleaming toothy grin over towards the two of them, as they blushed and turned away from each other, embarrassed. In an effort to warm her friend, Leitha flew over to the airbender's shoulder and quickly wrapped her wings and arms around Jung's head.

"I know you were only kidding, but I'd be willing to help… umm.. share my warmth? If you wanted, that is."

"Eww!! That's not what I meant," Jung let out, taking Da Shan's offer the wrong way.

"What? What are you – ohhhh… No, no, that's that what I… I was just wondering, if you'd mind if I slept here, next to you? To help keep you warm?"

"Ohh. I guess that's ok, but don't try anything funny. My dad told me once that this kinda thing is how my mom ambushed him for their first kiss." The pair climbed into their sleeping arrangements. Jung set her cheek on the earthbender's chest, closed her eyes, and reached her hand out over her head to point into Da Shan's face. "I loved that man dearly, and that story makes me fearful of earthbenders in this kind of situation. Don't give me any more reason to not trust you."

For all the threats, she was rather comfortable and happy in her place. She seemed to fall asleep quickly.

Da Shan glanced over at Katara and Zuko who were similarly cuddled up to sleep. Katara's eyes were open, however, and she watched the teenagers with amusement. Noticing Da Shan's eyes upon her, she started mouthing what seemed to be "kiss her" from across the cave. She even would pucker her lips and point excitedly toward Jung. The earthbender summoned up all the nerve he was capable of, and kissed the top of her head, as it was all that was within reach. Jung's cheek burrowed deeper into the boy, and her smile grew noticeably. "You're gonna pay for that when I wake up."

--

"We are still awaiting confirmation sir, but –"

"No! We don't have time for confirmation. I want as many people pulled back to the capital as possible. I want patrols throughout this city doubled. I want patrols throughout this castle tripled! I want our troops at the local harbors both in the Earth Kingdom and the Northern Air Temple to search for anything that might say they were there. I want the missing guardsman from the dock found and brought to me here immediately!" Hahn then let out a growl somewhere between a suffering widower and charging baboonadillo.

"Is there anything else you want, sir?"

"That damn airbender's head!"

The messenger before Chief Hahn was obviously quite shaken at this point. "Sir, I do report some good news as well."

The chief tried to calm himself. "Spit it out."

"Well, our prisoner, Toph Bei Fong, avatar Aang's wife, has stopped acting so harshly towards the guards. Not even a single snow ball in the past two days. Also, there has been no sign of Darro performing any more bending. We were not able to assess how good he has become at the skill, but with the current watch on him he will not be allowed to progress any more that we want him to."

"The news about Darro is good, yes, but the blind girl… that troubles me."

"What do you mean, sir? It's saved us quite a bit of grief if nothing else."

"I want to speak with her. Guards, bring her here immediately!"

"Yes sir!" A few voices chorused from around the room as they started heading out.

"Remember, no metal weapons are to be anywhere near her at any time."

Within moments the small earthbender was in front of him.

"Toph! Always a pleasure to see you." Hahn wanted to at least fake a little hospitality.

"Who are you? Seriously, I've never heard your voice before." Toph sat at a large wooden desk and began tapping it rhythmically.

"I hear you've calmed down quite a bit the last couple days. Was wondering what sparked the change in your behavior."

Toph grinned. What she said when she opened her mouth was, "I think I've just finally become comfortable around here. This water stuff ain't so bad." What she was thinking, however, was more along the lines of, "you are so dead tomorrow."

"You don't have to lie to me, dear."

Something on the table caught Toph's attention. "No really, I think the past few years were just a little culture shock. It has been a few years right? Hard to tell when nobody's around to tell you what day it is and all that. They start blending together."

"Yes, it has been a few years, but you're still not telling me what I want to know." The false kindness in the chief's voice was beginning to wear thin. "Why have you been so calm?"

"I've already told you a couple times. Besides, that's nowhere near as interesting as some other information I bet you don't have."

Hahn's eyes narrowed and all the anger he felt started coming back to the surface. "Alright you useless blind girl, what information do you have that you think is so important, then?!"

"Do you know how they make ink in the Earth Kingdom?"

Hahn opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, repeating the process a couple times. Everything gone from his countenance, leaving only blank confusion. "Umm…. What?"

"Ink, from the Earth Kingdom. I mean, that's a mighty fine bottle of ink you have there on your table." She pointed, with surprising accuracy to a small glass jar on the wooden table. "And, around here, you'd need some very water resistant ink I would wager. The finest water proof inks happen to come from the Earth Kingdom." Hahn was still quite dumfounded.

"Well, yes actually. This is Earth Kingdom ink. What's your point?"

"Well, to make the ink water proof, they use a few different mineral deposits from iron. It's really silly to think about, but that liquid, is actually metal and earth."

Before Chief Hahn could move to cover the jar the contents of it jumped out and splashed across his face. Toph's grin stretched larger. "Get her back to her cell! Now!"

While being dragged away Toph looked back over her shoulder and whispered so quietly that the guards holding her couldn't even make it out. "I'll be back tomorrow."

--

Darru sat as close to the door as he could. He could swear he heard his friend Toph's voice nearby. At one point he tried to make a break for it, but the guards had stopped him after he made it about two or three steps. He was about to scream out, but a gloved hand was clasped over his mouth. Suddenly Chief Hahn was screaming again. Darru smiled thinking of what the woman may have done to warrant such a scream.

--

Toph was back in her cell. The guards came to bring her food again. It was the same guard as always, but he seemed a bit saddened today. Toph internally rejoiced at his suffering.

"What? No taunts today? Nothing about how hot my daughter is?"

"Shut up and eat."

"Oooo, touchy. Did I hit a nerve? What, did my little Fancy Feet beat up somebody you know?"

"Yes, actually, my brother, and he still hasn't been seen. When I get my hands on your little girl, I'm going to break her in two."

"Hate to piss on your parade and all, but you wouldn't be able to catch her. Fast and slippery and agile."

"Heh, is that why you keep calling her Fancy Feet? I always thought it was because she can't do anything but dance."

"Actually, the dancing is why I call her that, but she can apparently beat up your brother. What do you call him? Glass Jaw? Wait, I know, it's a family affair. You're Dummy, and he's Wussy, right? Your dad's name Grumpy?"

"You know, your little husband was caught waterbending the other day. Had to beef up security on the bastard."

Suddenly, realization struck Toph in the head. The kid, Darru. Her friend Soggy… It was Aang. That's why he hadn't been by the last couple days. That's why they were so comfortable together. How did she not realize it? Of course, it wasn't her husband any more, but Soggy was definitely just moved up a few notches in the friendship ladder.

"What wrong, I hit a nerve?"

"Nah, just enjoying the fine cuisine you've brought me." Toph winced as she took another bite. Some things you just can not get used to. "You can leave now."

--

**For the record, yes it was Zuko who beat up the guard's brother, I know this, you should have realized this as well, but neither the guard nor Toph know this. They only know Jung may be involved in the disappearance and last seen at the NAT.**

**So yeah, I'll be back to post the next chapter, umm, eventually! Love you all! Love the reviews, more, though!**

**Ohh yeah, and one last thing, the title of this chapter has nothing to do with any relation between this chapter and the novel "On the Eve" by Turgenev. Just, happens to be a cool title (and a really beautiful piece of classic Russian literature. But then, there's much better classic russian literature that i'd suggest before it. ehh.. go read something guys!)  
**


	14. That's How I Remember It

**Back... with a VENGEANCE! Kinda... Guys, it's been years! And the craziest part, is that in those years, I... did not actually gain possession of the Intellectual Properties rights of these characters or the world of A:TLA. I did however get a degree and into law school. Anyways - on to the story!  
**

* * *

Years later, when all the actions that these words relate are little more than a memory in the minds of those involved, it will be claimed that the invasion on the Northern Water Tribe by a small group of great benders, and Sokka, Southern Water Tribe General, marked the beginning of the end of the "Little War." Of course, I know differently. As long as I live I will tell anybody who will listen how _I_ got the boulder rolling. Hell, I was half way out with nothing more than a fine strand of iron minerals and ink by the time they even got around to trying to free me. Ok, ok… so I always conveniently leave off the part about being completely, hopelessly, utterly lost in the midst of nothing but snow and ice and winding corridors. So lost, in fact, that I never really made it out of my cell all the way. I did, however, manage to raise enough havoc, that when they did begin their assault, it was not hard for them to find me.

Maybe I should explain a little more carefully. You see, Hahn was as much of an idiot as I had bargained for. Perhaps even more than I bargained for. I made a point to show him that I could bend the ink sitting on his desk, and yet he doesn't have the brains to ask somebody to search me afterwards? It was a simple action, really. Cause a distraction first by splashing ink in his face. Then the escape plan begins with concealing a small quantity of ink under the paltry amount of clothing and fur they allow me to wear.

As soon as I was locked into my cell I made for the bed, and dug under the pillow to find the ice carved heart that Soggy had made for me. Taking the ink from under my furs I wrapped the ice chunk in a thin lair of iron and mineral shavings. I had just enough left for an impossibly thin but solid bendable rope to use as a handle for my new heart shaped flail. The fun part could wait till morning.

So what if the escape plan never panned out alone.

Alright, alright… I'll admit… there was no detailed escape plan.

The plan was to destroy those sick, water-bending sissy freaks. Especially that one prick that always talked about Fancy Feet like she was an object to be abused. He was going to be the first to drop, and I DID have that planned out, thank you very much. And my plan worked perfectly.

That is, until the other guards came.

The next part of the plan also turned out right. Granted the rest of my plan was rather simple: Survive.

* * *

"Lunch time, sweet-heart." A smile crept across her face at the sound of approaching foot-steps in the snow.

_Crunch._

It had been a long day waiting for him to start his shift.

_Crunch._

He had no idea how dead he was.

_Crunch._

_THUD._

"What was that?"

"It's my new toy. You'd love it. My husband made it for me."

The food slides under the door in its usual tray. "You know you're not supposed to have toys, dear. Especially ones from your husband. Now slide that under the door and I won't have to come in for it."

_THUD_.

"No, that's alright, I'm gonna play with it some more in here."

_THUD._

"Toph, you know you're outnumbered, you have nothing to bend, and you can't see anything around you."

"Hmm… Two out of three right isn't bad." _THUD._

"That's it, I'm coming in there."

Toph could hear the door melt away in an instant. She heard a footstep against the beaten snow. Then another. All she needed was to hear him say something so she could locate his head.

"Alright, where's this toy. Let me see it."

A black, heart-shaped, iron plated block rocketed across the room, pushing through the guard's eye and into his skull. With another movement Toph pulled her toy back out, and back to her hand. "Eww. You said you wanted to see it, not get it all disgusting and gooey." She kicked the lump of a guard on the ground. "Last time I let you play with one of my toys."

* * *

"Ok, guys, welcome to the Oasis. Welcome back for most of us I guess. Weird that we only had one guard in –"

"Sokka, you're rambling."

"Sorry, sis. Da Shan, you will be staying here. I'm sure Zuko is sorry for the mess there. Zuko, apologize to Da Shan."

"Sokka, you're rambling."

"Sorry, Zuko, but that's just gruesome, look at him!"

"Sokka"

"Fine. Da Shan, once we head out that door, I need you to block it with a your earth bending. When we come back we will have Toph with us. She will open it for us, so do NOT under any circumstances let anybody through that door. Got me?"

"Understood, sir."

"It's just after noon right now. That's on purpose. They have lots of water benders, we're the ones with Zuko. We need to storm in while we have at least that one little bit of an advantage. Katara, Zuko and I will be looking for Toph instantly. You know what that means, Jung, right?"

"Distraction?"

"Yup."

"…You want me out first, then?"

Sokka walked up and embraced Jung. "Don't you dare forget the main part of this plan."

"Survive."

Zuko and Katara came up to join the hug, but Jung broke it up quickly. "We need to get moving on this." She walked straight up to Da Shan, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into a kiss. "You are to forget that kiss on the head from last night. That is our first kiss, and that is how you will remember it. Got that?"

Katara watched, smiling from the other side of the pond. "Seriously, what the hell did Toph do to you to make you this way?"

"Hush.. I'm going. Do your job, Sugar Queen, especially that surviving part. I'll see you back here in no time." Jung spun her staff in her hand and walked straight to the door and opened it.

"Get to the prison! Quickly!"

"Guards! Guards!"

"She's slaughtering 'em in there! Get some back up, quick!"

Jung closed the door and turned back to her friends. "So, umm…. Change of plans. Let's go beat 'em up and get my mom back. K?"

"But… it was such a great plan!"

"We know, Sokka. I'll still stay back here and block the door, still? Compromise?"

"But…"

"Sokka, we're moving! Come on!" Katara was shouting from the doorway as everybody began piling out.

* * *

"It's ok, Aang. You don't have to look so saddened. There is nothing to worry about."

"I know." Aang sniffed slightly. "They're my friends. I know them well. I am not concerned for their health or well-being. It's just, so much pain. So much loss is coming. I only hope that my friends will not lose themselves. I hope only that they know the time to show mercy, and when to subdue instead of destroy their enemy."

Kuruk slowly approached behind Aang and Roku. "Toph was right. Twinkle Toes. Here, have some leechee nuts and enjoy the show."

Aang smiled, and grabbed a snack.

* * *

**Kuruk - the badboy Avatar incarnation? I like to think so at least...**

**Goodnight! I'll return.**


	15. The Escape

**I am closing in on the finish line. Trying to get this and one other story done before Law School starts next month. One more chapter here, maybe 4-5 on the other story. You should go read it - Lives We Touch - it's far more mushy and drama-ish, not as exciting, but it's fun to write.**

**Anyways, I'm glad people are enjoying this story. It's almost done. Please review, just to let me know you exist and this kinda stuff is being seen (even if you hate it).**

**Still don't own any of it.**

* * *

"Hmm.. So, why are we all gathered around watching this all of a sudden?"

Kyoshi looked briefly at Aang. "Because our part is coming up soon. I haven't gotten to do anything this fun since you were twelve, Aang."

* * *

"Alright, Jung, looks like it's that building over there that's keeping Toph. I want you to fly both of us to the front entrance. Katara and Zuko will take out the guards trying to get in through that wall." Sokka gestured towards the small building next to the palace. Guards were flocking to it from both sides.

Jung told Sokka to grab on tight. "And you guys be careful! Nobody gets hurt but Water Tribe here." Sokka scowled at her. "_Northern_ Water Tribe, Sokka!"

With that Jung took to the air to get around to the front entrance of the building. Katara and Zuko heard a loud and heavy thump from the doorway the group just exited as Da Shan bent the earth behind it to seal the door closed.

"Alright, you want to get their attention, or should I?"

Zuko looked to Katara. "I think I got that part handled."

A wall of fire arose in the same place that had previously been a wall of ice forming the back of Toph's cell. The soldiers that had not made it into the cell yet turned to see a very unwelcome sight. Water whips and tentacles began to lash in Zuko's direction. The first wave was stopped by Katara as she effortlessly redirected the watery assault away from her friend. Zuko found time to send a wave of flame through the crowd of guards and soldiers thanks to Katara's defensive move. A quick tidal wave washed the guards away, allowing both Katara and Zuko to get into the cell behind Toph. The dstruction they found there struck them instantly and they froze up for a moment. Toph, not being able to "see" in the snow swung her weapon around quickly at the intruders behind her. Katara dropped to the ground, pulling Zuko with her.

"We're the good guys back here! Keep that thing in front of you from now on!"

The heart shaped chunk of metal slammed hard into the temple of another water tribe guard. "You're late! Where the hell have you been?"

Katara got up quickly and bent an ice wall back into place momentarily, to stop the assault coming at the three friends. As soon as Zuko was up, he got back to his fighting stance.

"Alright, Katara, drop the wall. We've got to get out of here."

* * *

"Nice battle-cry you have there, ponytail." Jung landed at the front entrance and immediately rushed forward, staff bared, striking down soldiers heading for the prison's front door. There was something about her form that reminded Sokka of watching Zuko spar, or the Fire Nation soldiers from the Hundred Year War.

Sokka reached for his sword and started in on his own assault. "Thank you for noticing! Most people would think it was a cry of fear!"

"I was kidding, you sounded like you saw that moose-lion again while we were flying here, Sokka. I'm going to have bruises across my back now!" A water-tribe soldier, lifted by a gust of air, flew out of the prison entrance and past Sokka's face.

Sokka took the rear, guarding against any further influx of soldiers from behind. "Duck!" he screamed. They both dropped to the ground as a water-whip zoomed over head. Getting up with a big whirling motion of her staff, Jung created a gust of wind to fling the water-bender against the side of the hall. With another sweep, he was sent, unconscious, into three more soldiers behind him. Jung took up a standard airbending stance. "So, you think you can not mention my battle-cry to Suki when –"

"Jump!" Jung leaped up to avoid a low-flying water tentacle. In mid-air she unleashed a gale in front of her, clearing the remaining soldiers to the far wall in a pile.

A scream was let out behind her. Turning around, Jung found Sokka lying on the ground holding tight to his left leg.

"Crap! We have to move fast, Sokka, hold on to my shoulders." Sokka placed his arm around her neck, and a gust of wind picked up behind the two, carrying them to Toph's cell. "Guys, let's get out of here! Sokka needs help!"

"Yeah, I heard his 'battle-cry' from in here. Let's move! Out the back guys." Toph turned to the back wall as she was saying this. Katara melted it away as Zuko performed a spinning kick, shooting a wave of fire at the water-tribe soldiers.

"Sokka, lean on Toph for one second."

The guards remaining after the wave of fire kept coming forward. Once Sokka's weight was off of Jung's shoulders, the teen started making large circular motions with her arms. A barrier of air quickly built up between the friends and the soldiers closing in on them. With one final, leaping pirouette, Jung shot her arms forward, forcing the barrier to release with enough force to the two dozen soldiers around them off the ground and fling them back fifty yards.

Jung leaned over, close to her mom's ear to whisper, "Eighty-five."

* * *

The guards had fled his room a while ago. Darru walked slowly to his front door to make sure they weren't just hiding, waiting for him to waterbend so they could punish him again. When he noticed they weren't there, he started practicing. He had been wanting to for so long, but he was never allowed. First thing he did was reinforce the door to his room. He didn't want anybody getting in without Darru being warned of it.

There was a lot of screaming and yelling outside. Darru bent the wall away so he could see. He had been moved to a room on the second floor, but he could see all sorts of guards and water-tribe soldiers in the back of Toph's cell. Then there were others. Not soldiers this time. They were dressed differently… really differently. There was one woman in blue, sort of similar to their own dresses that Darru had seen, but somehow more exposing, and more open. There was a man in blue also, with a weird pony-tail, then a guy dressed in red and black, and a girl in orange and yellow with bright blue tattoos and… is she flying? Yes, that one's flying!

Darru, was in love.

He wanted to fly. And the new people were beating up all the guards that Darru hated so much. The same guards that kept him in his room. The same guards that wouldn't let him talk to the ocean spirit that taught him how to move water, or Toph, who taught him what friends were. From his room, now without a wall, he looked down, and he occasionally bent the water to make the guards feet sink into the snow, or slip out from under them.

The new people were amazing. It reminded Darru of the stories that Toph used to tell him. The big waves of fire that the guy in red shot everywhere, were just like the stories of Sparky. The grace and effortlessness of the girl waterbender looked like how he imagined Sugar Queen to move. Then there was the girl with the tattoos and the big staff… The girl that could fly… She had to be Fancy Feet. Nobody else ever could be that amazing, and that's exactly how Toph always described her: The most amazing girl in the world... well, aside from Toph.

Then, suddenly, as Toph and her friends were leaving her room, the building collapsed. Guards rushed at them as Toph, the flying girl and the guy with the pony-tail were buried under snow. Darru had to help his friend. His only friend in the world. He jumped from his second-floor room, moving the snow below him into ice, easily skating across it to stop in front of Toph, as she lay on the ground, face down.

"Get them! Now!"

Just before Darru could reach his friend, a water whip shot towards Toph's face. Then there was a scream. Then there was nothing.

* * *

The final water whip stopped right next to Toph's cheek. Sokka kept screaming, but the water whip didn't move. Nothing moved. Then they noticed the winds, the flames, the water and the glowing… especially the glowing… coming from a small boy, not 10 feet away from them all, riding on a path of ice. The waves of water rushing around the boy expanded further, and the boy floated higher into the air. The circling tides reached out to envelope the entirety of the prison standing behind him. The waves moved away, exposing nothing but the prisoners that had been held inside, and the guards, still unconscious or dead, lying amongst the snow.

Then the circling waves reached out towards the palace. A great dome formed over the building, then crashed down, and returned to the floating, glowing Avatar. The palace, however, was no longer there. Only a pile of confused bureaucrats and posh furniture.

Finally, the snow under the feet of the embattled Norther Water Tribe warriors, lifted up and swept away all of them into the nearest canal, freezing them inside.

As the circling flames and waves and gusts of wind started to subside, and the diminutive boy sank, unconscious, back to the snow beneath him, Toph reached out. She didn't know how, but she knew exactly where to reach to catch him in her arms.

"Sokka, back around my shoulder, mom, give me your hand. Let's get out of here."

"How's that leg, Sokka?" Katara yelled back from in front of them.

"I don't…" Sokka didn't have the energy to finish. He was losing blood fast. "I."

"Back to the oasis! Fast! You can stop the bleeding when we get on Appa and get out of here!"

"By the way, sweety." Jung didn't slow down, but listened intently to her mother's voice. "Fifty-two. I taught you well."


End file.
